Winx Club: Side of Chaos
by LadyBug123
Summary: They thought they were safe, their world peaceful and their lives forever happy. They were wrong. Forced out of their well earned 'peace time' the girls are sent on one more journey to another world in order to save their lost loves. Sent back in time to face their past selves will the Winx club girls finally find their happy ending or will they forever be...on the wrong side?
1. Nightmares

**Oh my god I can't believe I'm here! I always swore that 'the other side and back again' was as far as I would go, I gave it my best shot but here I am again. Ah well, it's still gonna be a fun ride. Anyway greetings, just a quick reminder that if you haven't read 'The other side' or 'The other side and back again' This story will be a bit confusing so I advise you to go and read them. I'd like to point out that I did actually study for this; I went and found out actual names of places and people, so now the story is much more detailed. Now as I promised in 'Fairytale's' I give you the first few chapters of my new story, now if you get the impression that it's boring then I just have to tell you that I was attempting to write about the girls lives in peace time, so there's little drama going on, it's not until about chapter three that things start happening. I also tried to give you the idea of what life is like now that the girls have gotten what they've always wanted, I have to say I had fun with it. There's something very reassuring to me when I'm writing about them being happy, I can't help thinking "Yes they made it, I got them there at last!" ANYWAY sorry I'm rambling, it's one in the morning as I write this and I'm very tired, so ENJOY! **

Chapter One: Nightmares

_I'm dreaming..._

Bloom floated aimlessly, cold wind gently brushing against her and her long red hair that billowed out around her head and shoulders. Even with her eyes closed Bloom knew she was surrounded by bright white light that sent little bolts of energy through her; the harsh light she felt provided no warmth. In fact it was very cold in this place with no ground, no walls and no presence. She imagined it to be an endless abyss that stretched on for ages and ages, the cold wind sending goose bumps over her pale naked body that simply floated in nothingness.

_I'm dreaming...it's peaceful. Just like it always is..._

Bloom had had this dream before, she remembered the white light that she couldn't see and the peaceful illusion that washed over her but she always seemed to forget the cold feeling that came with it. It wasn't painful or overly noticeable; it just surprised her every time she felt it, nagging at the back of her mind. It was easy to ignore so she sighed and focused on the peace that ran through her body, if she listened closely she could hear the faint tweeting of birds or feel slightly wet grass under her body as if she rested in a sunny meadow instead of in her own bed back in Eraklyon. If it wasn't for the cold feeling against her skin Bloom always thought she would have smiled.

That is until the dream changed dramatically, just like it always did when Bloom thought about smiling. The feeling was sudden and surprising, hitting her like a wrecking ball and sending her body spiralling down into the abyss where there was no light, only darkness. The feeling was fire; hot fire that burned her skin and seared away the lingering cold. Being the keeper of the Dragon Fire Bloom always thought that she was immune to fire but here, in the depths of her unconsciousness, she was vulnerable. The fire ran along her skin and over every inch of her body until it reached the centre of her chest where it exploded into her bloodline and ran red hot damnation through ever vein in her body. Pain didn't matter here, only the feeling of fire turning her skin and bones into ash. As this went on Bloom didn't move, scream or thrash about in her torture. She simply opened her eyes wide and watched as fire melted the eyes that lay in her skull, all senses being washed away until she could only hear. Hear the fire crackle and rush, hear the billowing silence of the dark abyss and finally just as it always did. She heard the deafening roar of a dragon, its fury shooting through her like a bullet, forcing her body to give one shocked and choking jerk.

Bloom gasped and felt her body tense, one hand gasping the pillow that her head rested on while the other hand quickly snaked to the wooden frame of the bed under her to gently touch the concealed knife that had been strapped there. Bloom's eye swept the huge room with sharp accuracy that missed no detail, eyes searching for an attacker that may have hidden in the day and waited to strike in the night. Of course there was never anyone there, no dark sinister assassin lingering in silence. Sighing Bloom felt her body relax slightly now that she knew her life wasn't in immediate danger and that she was, in fact, alone in her huge chamber on Eraklyon. Sitting up and hugging her knees to her chest Bloom closed her eyes to try and vanish the fiery thoughts from her head, the feeling of fire melting her skin and the blistering heat that still seemed to linger on her skin. It was for that precise reason that Bloom always slept with the windows and doors leading to the balcony open, the night air sailed in softly to cool her hot skin.

Now that her eyes had grown used to the dark she could properly take in the room, the floors were dark smooth wood that she could literally see her own reflection in; the walls were a beautiful golden colour that matched the curtains that were a few shades darker. The bed was huge with tall wooden columns that soared almost to the roof, the pillows and sheets were creamy white with a golden comforter that had little green vines and pink flowers embroidered into the fabric. Directly across from the bed on the other side of the huge room were tall windows and doors that led onto the balcony that stretch outward to a single point, one of the highest rooms in the whole castle. The room was furnished with lots of expensive rugs, lamps, couches, two fireplaces, a table that held an impossible amount of flowers and a giant chandelier that hung from the roof that was painted sky blue with white clouds that was filled with little harps and angels. Bloom's eyes moved over to the four doors, two on either side of the room. The first one on her right led to the hallway while it's other one led to Bloom's equally beautiful office. The doors on her left were smaller, one leading to the bathroom while the last one was completely hidden, embedded into the wood of the bookcase and only to be used in an emergency. Bloom had never been through that door for the six months that she'd lived here but she'd been told by one of her maids that it led to an elevator and would take her hundreds of metres underground where twenty four hour guards waited with a ship to take her to safety. The whole room was breathtaking, and under any other circumstances Bloom would have stopped to admire its beauty but tonight, like many other nights after nightmares, she could not bring herself to do it.

The nightmares had been irregular and had only started about nine months ago but Bloom never got used to them. Brushing slightly damp hair out of her eyes Bloom swept back the golden blankets and stood up, she walked slowly with her arms folded around herself over to one of the lit fireplaces, the only real light in the room, casting an eerie glow over the wooden floor. Watching the flames Bloom felt her world slowly come back to her, little details about her life fit into place where she'd left them. Sometimes she'd wake up and think she was back on Earth with her adoptive parents sleeping in the next room but she'd quickly realise that none of what had happened to her since she was sixteen had been a dream.

Even though she wished some of it was.

It had been a year; one solid year after the war that had united all of Magix in a war against...sometimes she couldn't really be sure but...against herself. It still did Bloom's head in that the terrifying war that had shook all the people of Magix had been started by Bloom and her friends. Even to this day people still pointed and stared at Bloom as she walked down the street, she'd sometimes see them glare and whisper "Evil girl" and "All her fault" But Bloom tried not to pay attention. She supposed it was fair, after all the demon that embodied all of the evil that the girls had saved up over the years. The anger and guilt built into one woman that had struck back at Magix because it was the only thing she knew how to do, the new evil. They'd never actually found a name to call her so everyone had proclaimed her the "Child of Chaos"

Bloom and her friends hadn't liked the name, it referred to them being the creators of that girl and therefore responsible for all the bad things she'd done, Bloom always thought it was a miracle that nobody had actually tried to kill them for it. So after the war the girls had helped clean up the mess, rebuild and restock, then after a long discussion with their parents the girls had gone on international television and explained in a six hour interview what happened and how sorry they were. It had worked...not fully but it worked well enough. They were forgiven and instead of jail time they were ordered to commit their lives to the service of Magix. _Hey it could have been worse. _

Bloom knew she was lucky to be alive, lucky to be here living in Eraklyon and lucky to have not been executed for mass destruction and treason. After all that had happened Bloom tried her best to forget and move on with her life but it always came back to haunt her, to remind her that once upon a time she had been evil, awful and heartless. She'd never be the same and the nightmares were just one of these reminders. Placing a hand to her forehead Bloom could still feel the fiery heat of the flames on her skin, the roar of a vengeful dragon snarling in her ears. It was the same dream every time and Bloom couldn't figure out why she kept having it, it couldn't have anything to do with her powers because they were as strong as ever but if the past was any indication dreams were always a message in some way. Dreams had led her to her parents, to her sister and her destiny but what was this one trying to tell her? Bloom knew for sure they were trying to tell her something, these dreams weren't just random nightmares, they were messages. But message or not it didn't stop them from scaring her to death. _This dream...it won't leave me. What are the flames trying to tell me?_

In moments like this Bloom would usually turn to Sky but tonight he wasn't here, he hadn't been here for a week whenever she woke up. Turning and glancing over to the bed where she slept alone she felt a small dull ache in her chest, she missed him. Even if he was gone for the shortest amount of time she missed him immensely, it had been one of the greater reasons she'd agreed to live with him six months ago. Bloom had graduated from Alfea and after the death of her parents she'd had nowhere to go, so Sky had invited her to come and live with him on Eraklyon. Hesitantly she'd agreed, there had been many reasons that she thought she shouldn't live with Sky. The main one being that not six months earlier he'd been engaged to another woman, Bloom herself had interrupted their wedding and right after led everyone off to war. Not to mention that Sky's parents blamed the whole thing on her and even after the time she'd spent trying to get on their good side they still hadn't forgiven her. But she'd agreed that she'd move in only after she'd spent some time on Earth, probably being the last time she'd ever get to go to Earth in her life, and say a proper goodbye to her parents. It was only two weeks but Bloom spent that time doing absolutely nothing but what she wanted to do, she got back to her old self and let herself heal. It was nice for the first time in a long time to not have to wake up and worry about how she was going to save the world and figure out if Sky loved her or not. When she left she felt better about herself and ready to accept happiness into her heart. So with no other place to go Bloom had moved in with Sky here in the castle. That's when the nightmares had started. At first she kept it a secret not wanting to worry Sky but eventually at the insistence of her closest friend Stella, she'd told him. He'd been supportive and loving; telling her that if she ever needed him he'd be there, all she had to do was call.

Smiling slightly Bloom turned from the fireplace, she walked over to one of the plush couches and sat down gently, the nightmare truly leaving her now as she thought back to those early days when she'd started living here in the castle. From the moment she'd stepped foot on Eraklyon soil she'd been immensely happy, happy to have some resemblance of a home, the people in the city that surrounded the castle had welcomed her with warm smiles. Somehow they'd gotten it into their heads that Bloom and her friends had saved them all from death, at the time Bloom had just nodded and smiled. Looking back on the war Bloom didn't think if it as saving but atoning for her sins, if the good people of Eraklyon wanted to think of her as a hero then she'd let them, even though she didn't see it that way. After she'd settled in Bloom and Sky had begun to get to know each other all over again, they laughed and spent so much time together and Bloom remembered thinking at the time.

_How can it possibly last? Any moment now my world will come crashing down around me and I'll be plunged back into darkness, the place I deserve to be. Any moment now..._

But it had never happened. No bad happenings or world ending catastrophes, nothing to upset Bloom, except the reoccurring nightmares. Tucking her feet under her body Bloom rested her head back against the couch and looked out to the night sky through the open balcony doors, the glistening stars shinning back at her. As she watched her fingers idly fiddled with the two rings on her left hand, the rings had been there for four months now and it still surprised her whenever she happened to glance down at them. One engagement ring, one wedding ring. Eight months after the war on Magix Sky had asked Bloom to marry him and without even a moment to think about it Bloom and screamed yes back at him and thrown herself into his arms, happiness radiating out of her.

A small sound of the hallway door opening drew Bloom's attention, looking over at the door as golden light exploded into the room she saw Sky quietly enter the room. Bloom smiled as she watched Sky shut the door and walk slowly in, he looked tired as he always did this past week but when he noticed the white bed was empty and his eyes quickly found her on the couch he smiled back at her.

"Bloom?" He asked as he paused just inside the room.

Bloom lifted and hand and waved slightly "Hi"

Sky raised one eyebrow an eyebrow and walked over to her, hands in his pockets "What are you doing sitting here in the dark?"

He sat down next to her and Bloom easily let herself be wrapped in his arms "Nothing, I was just thinking about the past"

Sky looked down at her, his smile slipping a little "Good or bad parts?"

Bloom thought for a moment "Both, always both. They kind of go hand in hand" She rested her head on his chest "I'm still coming to terms with being Mrs Sky of Eraklyon, it's a lot to take in, you know? Being somebody's wife"

She could feel Sky smile as he gently swept his fingers through her hair "You're not just somebody's wife, you're a kings wife"

Bloom felt the sudden tensing in her legs as she heard the words "King" and "Wife" used in the same sentence. It always made her tense up whenever they spoke about it, made fear and nervousness run through her abruptly. One month after Sky had proposed they had been married here in Eraklyon, Bloom remembered it being the happiest day of her life and it would have remained that way if Sky's parents hadn't broken some very big news to her afterwards. It turns out that when the heir of Eraklyon gets married that automatically gives him the right to take over as king, now that they had been married Bloom had sudden not only become Sky's wife, she would soon become Eraklyon's Queen. The fact that nobody told her had made her freak out...a lot. On questioning Sky about it he had assumed she'd known, so had her friends and everyone at the wedding.

The only person who hadn't known was evil Bloom and she thought it was hilarious. So with no other way Bloom had forced herself to accept it and really it wasn't that bad, she guessed it's what she'd always wanted but a little warning that she'd be getting everything she'd ever wanted would have been nice.

"You still angry at me for not telling you? Bloom I swear, I honestly thought you knew" Sky added quickly when he felt her tense, he rubbed small circled into the back of her neck to ease the tension.

Bloom breathed a sigh "I was never angry at you...just really really throw off, it's a hell of a thing to get married and find out you're going to have to be queen in the one day"

"And as I knew you would be, you're a wonderful queen" Bloom relaxed at the statement, smiling slightly "The people love you, my parents are actually starting to warm up to you and-"

"It's the longest I've gone without starting a war" Bloom interrupted him, smiling at the thought. She was strangely proud of herself for staying out of trouble; no bad guys had popped up to start any trouble so she was happy.

Sky chuckled "Yeah, that too" He pressed a kiss to her hair "So wife, how are your lessons going?"

"Oh...good" Bloom replied grudgingly, thinking of the daily lessons that she took with Sky's mother, Queen Samara and a handful of other ladies that taught her the duties and rules of being a queen, the kind of things Bloom would have learned if she had grown up as a real princess "Your mothers a real battleaxe, you know that right? I used the wrong fork at lunch yesterday and she almost ripped my arm off, are you sure she's warming up to me?"

"Yeah" Sky didn't sound convincing "Well, in spirit maybe"

Bloom rolled her eyes "Ah huh and how are your lessons going, Husband?" Bloom arched her heard to see the look on his face; he looked down at her tiredly with soft eyes. Sky had been going through a similar training except he was learning to rule a planet and his only teacher was his father, King Erendor.

"They're actually going great, exhausting though. I never thought it would take me until..." Sky glanced over at the illuminated clock up the bedside table "One thirty in the morning to memorize all the states and towns in Eraklyon, plus all of their resident leaders by name"

"Aw" Bloom reached up blindly to pat Sky on the side of the head "Poor baby"

Sky caught her hand and pressed a kiss to it "It's harder than it sounds" He released her hand and sighed, Bloom felt his body fully relax into the couch "You seem to sit here in the dark alone so much lately"

Bloom smiled "I'm never alone"

"Neve—What?" Sky tensed and suddenly sat up "Oh no it's her, isn't it? She's here watching us? Where is she?" Sky whirled his head to look quickly around the room.

Still relaxing Bloom laughed and held onto him "Sky calm down!"

Sky looked down at her with a wary expression "Where's EB?"

Bloom smiled wider. Ever since before the war Bloom had been gifted with the fact that her evil self, the part of her that had lived when she'd been in the service of Valtor, had started to haunt her. The girl looked exactly like Bloom and had the same personality except for the part where she was evil, at first Bloom had hated the part of her that always annoyed her and told her how much of a screw up she was. But over time when the war against the Child of Chaos had started Bloom had begun to warm to her other self, as had the evil girl to her. In the final battle she had been a soul character in the defeat of the new evil but somehow to everyone's horror the girl had earned herself a physical body that only Bloom could see. The girl could walk through walls like a ghost and travel across the dimension in an instant but she always came home to Bloom. They were friends now and Bloom had even set up a private room in the castle where the girl could hang out without causing people to panic, the staff avoided the room in fear. When people found out about the girl they didn't really believe that she existed until the girl gave them a wedgy or tripped a pot full of mud on them while they were sleeping, the staff were asked to ignore the fact that sometimes Bloom would talk to a person that they couldn't see.

Sky had been gracious about the whole thing, evil Bloom liked Sky for taking care of Bloom so he was never the object of her pranks but it was because of this that Sky lived in fear that one day she would change her mind. He had also begun calling her "EB", meaning "Evil Bloom" just so he had a name to call out when one of the servants was attacked randomly by some unseen force.

Bloom laughed again "No, not her. She's away at Stella's for the night, spying like always"

Sky seemed to relax "Oh good" He leaned back into the couch and kept a wary eye on the room "But you said you weren't alone?"

Bloom gasped and stood up abruptly, she turned on Sky with a smile "Sky! Have you forgotten about your dog?" Bloom pointed to the bathroom door where inside she knew the hound that Sky kept as a pet slept soundly "Who do you thinks been chewing up all your shoes?"

Sky looked childish for once, he always got that look when they discussed his pet "You leave Lady out of this"

Bloom laughed again and relaxed back into her old self, it always made her immensely happy to be able to joke with Sky. She walked back over to their bed and sat down "Okay King Sky, I'm going back to sleep and so should you, aren't you busy tomorrow?"

Sky stood up from the couch and stepped out of his boots while undoing his shirt "I'm busy everyday"

Bloom settled back into bed and closed her eyes, suddenly too tired to talk. After a minute she felt Sky crawl in next to her and wrap an arm around her, she opened her eyes to see he had a wary look on his face when he looked at her "What is it?" She asked tiredly.

Sky watched her for a moment "You had a nightmare, didn't you?"

Bloom sighed, closed her eyes and nodded slightly. Sky took her hand under the covers and squeezed "Same one?"

"It always is" Bloom replied without opening her eyes "How could you tell?"

"You're always burning to the touch after you have that dream; I noticed when I sat down. Are you alright?"

Bloom opened her eyes and she knew he could see the fear and hurt in their depths, the joking feeling had suddenly been ripped from her and Bloom felt the familiar depression that came after every dream "No, I never am afterwards. I can't explain it...they have to mean something. All my dreams are a message and they're meant to help me find something but fire and a dragon roaring into my ears making me want to explode isn't telling me anything"

"A dragon?" This was the first time Bloom had ever told him about the contents of the dreams that haunted her, Sky's brow furrowed and a truly concerned look came over his face "Like the dragon fire?"

Bloom shook her head "No, I don't know. That's what's frustrating; I don't know anything about it. There's no Daphne to guide me and help me so what if this is a totally different dream, what if it's trying to warn me about something?"

Sky looked her in the eye with a firm expression, his grip on her hand tightening "If it is a warning then we'll figure it out, whatever happens we can deal with it together, I won't let anything happen to you"

And just like that, Bloom could feel the panic and depression leave her but that didn't get rid of the fear and dread, she reached up with her free hand and gently stroked the side of his face sadly "Oh Sky...I wish I could say everything was alright but..can I tell you something?"

"Anything Bloom"

"The truth is that I have good days...days where the sun is bright and everything is colourful and I feel like I might just burst with happiness" She looked up at him with a small smile "I live for those days" Sky smiled and wrapped an arm around her even tighter.

"But?"

Bloom hesitated "But...I also have horrible days. I guess everyone has them but these days for me are like I've stepped back into the past, the days when I lost all hope, where my will to fight is just at its lowest" She turned to look up at the sky ceiling above her so she wouldn't have to look him in the eye, she knew that she needed to tell him this, even though everything inside her feared his reaction to her gloomy and depressed state "You say you won't let anything happen to me but what you have to know is that I'm already hurt, already damaged" She took her hand from his face and placed it over her still heart that refused to beat under her skin "This. This is proof of the damage" She looked back over at him to see that he was watching her with the saddest eyes she'd ever seen "Sky I'm sorry, we can pretend that this is life that beats beneath my chest but it's something else...it's a desperate clinging to life that is forever holding on but never being able to fully start to live again and what's worse is that there's always the possibility of death too" She stared at him in the eye for a long time and she could see just how much her words cut him to the bone but she needed him to know "I've died so many times, been through so much pain and my body been broken too many times that I know I'll never be whole again. I'm fraying at the edges, Sky. And only you can hold me together"

Sky placed a hand gently on the side of her face and whispered "I will. I'll always be there to save you, no matter what"

Bloom smiled and placed a small tender kiss on his lips "I know. Thank you"

Sky still looked haunted "I've never heard you talk like that, not since..."

Bloom's mind reeled back to when she was about to die after killing Valtor for the second time, her body about to breaking into pieces and float away with the wind. She'd tried to say goodbye to Sky and in the moment that death had started to wrap its cold fingers around her she'd clung desperately to Sky, telling him that it was all over.

Sky brushed a thumb over her cheek "It doesn't matter, I'm here, you're here and I'm never letting you go"

Bloom smiled and snuggled closer to her husband, smiling slightly as the darkness of the dream was chased away by the warmth that she felt in his arms "Goodnight Sky"

"Goodnight Bloom"

Before slipping back into a dreamless sleep she heard a distant roar of a dragon echo in her ears.

...

"Bloom? Bloom!"

A voice snapped Bloom out of her daydream, she jumped slightly and her eyes came to rest on Sky's mother who looked down on her disapprovingly, hands on hips and eyes piercing. Three older women stood behind her, all looking grim. Bloom gulped and sat up straighter "Umm, pardon?"

"I asked you how many major cities there were on Eraklyon?" Queen Samara repeated in a tired voice, the woman had brown hair that was braided high on her head that held a silver crown with green jewels; the dress she wore was also green and gold.

"Oh" Bloom thought furiously for a moment "Twenty?"

"Twelve" The queen turned back to the blackboard and began writing names as she spoke "You're going to have to memorize these names and say them aloud to me by the end of the day in order of population and then in order of when they were established"

Bloom felt like groaning wishing she had a phone so she could secretly text Sky to save her from his mother "You're majesty?"

"What is it?" the woman asked with her back still turned, writing furiously.

Bloom hesitated "I've been meaning to ask...after the wedding Sky was crowned as the king of Eraklyon and made rightful ruler, with the temporary help of his father, but I was wondering...when am I going to be crowned queen?" Bloom couldn't help but feel a little brushed aside.

The queen paused in her writing, she turned back to Bloom with a blank expression "When you're ready you'll be crowned and not a moment before"

"When am I going to be ready?"

"When I say you are" Samara looked her right in the eye and Bloom could see that same spark of coldness that had been there since Bloom had interrupted Sky and Diaspro's wedding, she was suddenly angry "You know Sky didn't love Diaspro, right? He wouldn't have been happy with her but he would have married her to make you happy, shouldn't you give him the same courtesy and accept me, because that would make him happy"

The queen looked Bloom dead in the eye and Bloom noticed that she was unconsciously cracking her knuckles "I have accepted you"

"Then how come you won't let me call you Samara? You won't let my teachers or my maids call me your majesty, you make them call me 'my lady' and whenever we have dinner together you don't talk to me, you never talk to me outside of this room" This wasn't the first time Bloom had pointed this out, she didn't think she was being rude, she was just calling someone else on being rude to her "I love your son and I make him happy, why isn't that enough for you?"

The queen's face went a startling shade of red, throwing off the nice colour of her green dress "I think we're done for the day" With that she marched out of the room with the three maids at her heels. Bloom crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes she chided herself for bringing up the subject of Diaspro in front of the queen, she knew that the mention of her almost daughter in law set her off.

"Wow, even after six months she still can't stand you, tough break"

Bloom's eyes flew open and landed on her other half who sat with a wide smile on the desk that Bloom was seated at, Bloom looked up at her other half and felt the familiar mixture of annoyance and happiness "You're back huh?"

Evil Bloom smiled and waved "I'm back! So..." She swivelled until she was seated directly in front of Bloom "What happened while I was gone, I can see you made no progress with the battleaxe since I was gone, anything else? Is the father still avoiding you? Are the servants still gossiping about how you almost ended the world and how you seduced Sky out of his previous marriage?" She leaned forward with a serious expression "Are you playing nice with the other kids?"

Bloom stared at her other self for a long time "Can I just say what a pleasure it is to have you back in my life" Bloom stood up abruptly and gathered up her jacket and bag, she wore faded red jeans with a navy blue top that was made of chiffon material that reached mid thigh, her red hair tied back into a bun. She'd noticed that her other self always seemed to wear what she wore, magically changing clothes every time Bloom changed. She walked from the room without another glance at the girl, striding through the door she almost ran head first into Sky.

"Sky?" Bloom asked abruptly, thrown off by his sudden appearance "I thought you were with your father in the city, looking over some kind of damage that hadn't been fixed since the war?"

Sky smiled easily and shrugged "Lunch break. I just saw my mom walk out of here, is everything alright? She looked a little put out"

"Yeah!" Bloom heard her other self say from behind her, Bloom fought to urge to turn and look at her "I think we're all looking forward to the day when she finally snaps and her and Bloom have a massive cat fight, it's the reason I always carry around this camera, can't miss this opportunity"

Bloom sighed heavily while Sky waited for her to reply "Umm, just the usual disagreement about...stuff"

Lady, Sky's dog suddenly came barrelling into the hallway, barking loudly. Sky and Bloom watched as it ran straight past them "Lady!" Evil Bloom exclaimed loudly, smiling widely she knelt and embraced the dog with affection while Bloom suppressed a shudder. For some reason Lady was one of the only things who could see evil Bloom and even more mysterious was that evil Bloom loved Lady since she first laid eyes on her "Oh you missed me didn't you? You can come with me next time, I'll carry you all the way to Saloria and back, yes I will!"

Bloom groaned at the thought of the dog floating in the air without anyone holding it while Sky suddenly tensed beside her. He whispered in dread as he held Bloom's hand tightly "It's her"

"Just go on pretending she's not there, that's what I do" Bloom said as she turned away from the disgusting sight of evil Bloom tossing the dog up into the air and laughing.

Sky nodded and placed an arm around her as they walked along the hallway, the tall windows spilling in light from the sun, the view looked down on the city that surrounded the castle reminding Bloom just how high the building reached "I didn't see you at breakfast, did something come up?" Bloom asked warmly.

"Oh there was this strange message for me, it was from Alfea"

Bloom jumped and paused "Alfea? What did they want?" Bloom remembered her old school that had been converted into a place for both fairies and Specialists to train and learn, Bloom felt a longing in her heart.

"They want me to go on a mission" Sky replied, bafflement in his voice.

"Really? But you're a king now, you have responsibilities and stuff" Bloom said in equal bafflement.

"I know but they said in the message that they wouldn't have asked me to go if they weren't desperate, I think they're busy with all the new recruits and don't have the people to spare to go on missions, it happens. Anyway they want me to go with the guys to Linphea to collect this special plant"

"Linphea? That's Flora's home planet, why don't they just get the people there to send it to Alfea?" Bloom asked as they reached the main sitting area in the castle, this is where the family hangs out after dinners and entertains people privately.

"Because it's guarded by a giant killing monster that sucks the life out of anyone who comes near it" Sky answered casually.

"Oh" Bloom said at the same time that evil Bloom exclaimed behind them "Cool! I want to go!"

Sky and Bloom were greeted by a small girl that was busy setting out tea and food on a small table between two couches, the room overlooked a massive view of Eraklyon and mountains in the background, there was a giant balcony that let you sit out in the sun.

"I leave in the morning and I'll be gone most of the day" Sky stood while Bloom seated herself on the couch with the tea in front of her "And right now I have to go and see my father about it so you'll have to fare without me for tea"

Bloom was confused, she glanced down at the three tea cups that were set out, she knew that one was for her and the other for evil Bloom who sometimes liked to drink tea and eat food even though she didn't get hungry or thirsty "Okay, have fun"

"Actually you'll be having fun too; you'll be coming with me on the mission"

Bloom gasped and shot up from her seat, a smile dawning on her face "Oh really? I get to come and fight monsters with you?"

Sky smiled and took her by the shoulders to slow her bouncing "No but you get the next best thing, you get to spend all day in Linphea, touring the sites with your friends, no lessons by my mother"

"My friends?!" Bloom squealed, getting more excited by the second.

"That's right!" A high voice sounded from behind them. Bloom smelled the expensive perfume and heard the clicking of heels before she even turned around. Princess Stella of Saloria stepped into the room and threw up her hands with a smile "We're coming with you!"

Bloom squealed and ran to embrace her friend, the girl was tall with long golden hair that was curled to her waist, she wore a baby pink dress with golden straps around the top and a white jacket over everything "Darling!" She exclaimed loudly as the two girls hugged "We have so much to catch up on but first tell me what married life is like!"

"And that's me gone" Sky said quickly as he exited the room.

Bloom and Stella decided to take their tea and food out onto the balcony; they sat in long chairs that let you put your feet up, both girls basking in the sun while evil Bloom was inside playing with Lady. Bloom munched on a sandwich while Stella spoke "And then I had to pay the cashier double because I spilled coffee all over the dress I was going to wear to my mother's garden party! How rude was that right! I wasn't even going to buy the dress in the first place!"

Bloom smiled and took a sip of tea "How is your mother?"

Stella moaned and gave Bloom a tired look "You think you're the only one with mother lessons, I've got it so much worse! My father has been a little sick since last month and he hasn't gotten better so my mom's been having this little freak out, saying 'But oh no what if he should pass on, who will run the kingdom? Stella you're so unprepared!' blah blah blah!"

"But you are prepared, you're the most skilled princess I know and you already know how to rule a kingdom and everything, how can you not be ready?"

"I am but my mom is just being hysterical, so she's ordering me to redo all of my old lessons, now I know what you and Sky are going through, it's awful! And you know what? It's taking time out of my fashion show that is set to be released in just two weeks! I don't have time for this!" Stella looked stressed for once.

Bloom and her friends had all been surprised when Stella had graduated Alfea and got right into fashion, they all knew it was Stella's dream to become a fashion designer but they never thought they'd ever live long enough to see it. Stella, of course, had been a huge hit. People had been admiring her work for years and everyone wanted a piece of her, Stella looked like she would become famous even before she took the thrown of Saloria. She told her friends that when her father died she'd have to take over, married or not, but they knew that when that happened she'd have to give up her career in fashion. It was hard enough she was juggling princess duties, fashion duties, queen duties and on top of everything girlfriend duties. Brandon now lived on Saloria, in the castle to be exact. Since graduating he'd been quick to be wherever Stella would be so he applied for a position at the castle, Sky had put in a good word for him and Brandon had gotten a good job as, ahem, Princess Stella's royal bodyguard.

Stella's parents already knew about their relationship, at first they were a little...well lividly pissed off at the outcome but after a long discussion Stella smoothed things over. Now Stella could go anywhere she wanted with her trusty bodyguard ready to protect her, Bloom had been worried that they'd get sick of each other but as it turns out, Stella and Brandon really love each other.

"Hey where's Brandon?" Bloom looked around and couldn't spot him.

Stella took a big gulp of tea "He's visiting his family in town; we come here so often that it's easy for him to spend time with his family because now that he's my bodyguard he doesn't get to see them as much. Truth be told...I kinda miss him"

Bloom leaned back and pulled down her sunglasses "Miss him? You're together all the time?"

"But that's just it!" Stella threw up her hands "We aren't! Remember two months ago when Alfea sent him a message requesting him for the student-teacher program? He has to spend three days a week at that thing and between that and all my stuff we barely get to see each other"

Bloom thought for a moment, she had been told about the student-teacher program by Sky. It was where students from Red Fountain are called back each week in order to train the new recruits and teach them the skills a bit more personally than they were learn in a class of twenty. She had heard that Brandon, Helia, Timmy and Riven had signed up; Sky and Nabu hadn't gotten too because of official royal duties. She thought it was a harmless thing until Stella had called her in the middle of the night, screaming about someone named Mandy. Apparently girls could become Specialists now, very very tough girls, and that Brandon had gotten assigned to one of them, her name was Mandy and according to Helia who told Flora who told Bloom, Mandy was a very beautiful girl and therefore Stella hated her.

"It's that Mandy!" Stella grumbled in an angry voice "She's keeping him away from me, she's evil Bloom!"

Bloom tilted her head to the side, surprised "Really?"

"Okay not completely, but you'll see it when you meet her, she's actually very nice and bubbly and she's going to be a school leader and she's like the queen bee of Alfea now!" Stella looked so angry she was a little red in the face, gripping her teacup until her fingers were white "Because Brandon's teaching her he feels the need to go on and on about how well she's doing, how high she can jump, how many people she knocked out in training and how well they're getting along. I've met her and if I'm being honest, she's an absolute delight" Stella leaned back in her chair looking sullen.

Bloom placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly "It's just teachers pride that's making him say so many good things about her, his student is doing well. I don't think you need to be too worried"

Stella looked over at Bloom with a sad but annoyed face "Bloom, they spend three full days together, more time than he spends with me, they go on little missions together, he's teaching her to fight. Think of it, their sweaty adrenaline filled bodies wrestling around on the floor, their breathing laboured as they stare into each other's eyes" Stella scoffed looking disgusted "It's like the start of some sordid porn video" 

Bloom had to laugh at the seriousness in her friends voice "Oh my god, Stella you have got to stop thinking that. Focus on other things, like our group mission tomorrow. We haven't all been together since my wedding, remember the old times. The Specialists and the Winx Club fighting evil!"

Stella smiled hesitantly, a sparkle in her eyes "It will be nice to be together again and it'll give me time to remind Brandon of how much he's missing when he's spending time with that bitch Mandy"

Bloom knew she shouldn't encourage her friend but hating possible rivals was what friends did "Yeah! Now come on, we need to go shopping for our outfits tomorrow." The two girls stood up and gathered their coats and bags "Trust me it's going to be great!"


	2. Shopping, Lunch and a Show

Chapter Two: Shopping, Lunch and a Show

"This is amazing!" Stella yelled with a triumphant fist to the air, Bloom looked over and saw her tall blond friend standing by a clothes rack while snatching up literally every item from the metal frame "I can wear this one to my cousin's birthday party and this one to that horrible brunch with that tart Mrs I'm-too-good-for-everything-and-everyone, Oh and this one! Oh that's cute! I like the colour on this one"

Bloom smiled and turned back to the case full of jewellery she was inspecting "Pace yourself Stella, we have four more stores to go too"

Stella poked her head up from the mountain of clothes she held in her arms to give Bloom a confident smile "Bloom...it's me we're talking about"

"I know but the last time we went shopping like this you bought so much stuff they had to send a second ship to carry all your bags" Bloom eyed a stunning diamond blue necklace that shown up at her "I just think you need to slow down a bit"

"Oh come on" Stella turned quickly and dumped the entire pile of clothes into the arms of a nearby store clerk who buckled under the weight of it all, Stella didn't notice and turned back to her friend "Who am I hurting really? Besides I am the newest and most fabulous fashion icon in Magix, it's natural for me to buy a whole store worth of clothes to compare notes with, I have rivals in this business, I need to know what standard they come up too compared to my master pieces" She tossed her blond locks over one shoulder with a pretty pout "Or don't you think I'll look pretty in them?"

Bloom rolled her eyes and smirked "Fine you win but don't come crying to me when your mother tells you to return half of them"

Stella laughed as she approached another rack "Ha! My mother wouldn't dare! She may not understand my newfound place in the fashion world but she knows me too well to think she could take away anything of mine without me throwing a class A tantrum" Stella picked up another pile of clothes quickly without even looking at them and tossed them to another waiting clerk, her eyes faraway and distant "Speaking of people taking away things that are mine..."

Bloom leaned over the glass case and rested her head on the surface, groaning loudly "Brandon is not cheating on you!" Stella had brought up the subject a number of times since they left Eraklyon and Bloom had reassured her until she was pink in the face but Stella would not listen to reason.

"Not yet but soon perhaps. It's only a matter of time" Stella gripped the side of the clothes rack until her knuckles turned white, her eyes even more faraway "I don't want to lose him Bloom, he means too much to me. I wouldn't have been able to survive these past few months with my nagging mother and my sick father without my beloved Brandon"

Bloom peeked up from her exasperated thoughts to look at Stella "So you don't trust him?"

Stella smiled and placed her hands on her hips "Of course I trust him!"

Bloom stood up straight and crossed her arms and walked around to stand in front of her friend "If you trust him so much why'd we have to travel all the way to the nearest city to Alfea to go shopping instead of on Eraklyon?"

Stella stared at the ground stubbornly, playing with the hem of a cute red dress that she'd tried on and still wore "Eraklyon has terrible fashion sense and the coffee stores here are really good"

"Coffee stores?" Bloom tilted her head to the side, knowing she had her friend in the corner. For all Stella radiated confidence it still astounded Bloom at how insecure her friend could be when it came to Brandon, she guessed it was love that made her this way. Stella loved Brandon and only him and that fact alone made her want to keep him forever, her worst fear would be to lose him. Bloom sighed and draped an arm around the tall girls shoulders "You're totally right! The places on Eraklyon suck!"

Stella smiled and nodded "And I could really go for a coffee right now, all this work is making me exhausted!"

Bloom glanced behind her at the five store clerks who were busy getting Stella's huge amount of clothes ready to depart "Yeah I know it must be terrible for you"

Stella hummed happily and sat down on a couch that faced out into the street to watch people walk by in the sunlight "But about Brandon, I do trust him. Just not as much as I used too" She slapped both hands down on her knees "But! That won't stop me from loving him, he really is the most-" Stella suddenly gasped loudly and shot to her feet, pointing into the distance outside the store "Cheater!"

Bloom had been carefully holding up an earring to her ear to see what it would look like on, at her friend's outburst Bloom was so startled that she dropped the shiny object and spun around to see into the street. In fact the whole store had turned to see what Stella was pointing at; Bloom hurried to the window and spotted a crowded coffee shop across the street. The people sat at tables and chatted happily while they drank their coffee, Bloom didn't see what the commotion was about when she spotted none other than Brandon coming out of the store with coffee in hand, a girl who still stood just in the store was following him out. Bloom would have had time to assess the girl if Stella hadn't bolted from the couch and ran right out the door of the store, sending off burglar alarms as she still wore the red dress that had not been paid for yet. Bloom ran after her and yelled to the store clerks and shocked customers "Sorry! She'll be right back!"

Bloom made it out onto the street and not a few metres from where Brandon hadn't noticed her yet, before Bloom could think of approaching him a hand seized her by the arm and dragged her behind a huge dumpster "Do you see it! I knew it!" Stella wailed unhappily as she peeked over the side of the bin.

Bloom paused for a moment to look at the dumpster, whenever she saw one she was reminded of that time that fake Diaspro had died and she'd had too dump her body out the bathroom window to escape into an alley where she had contemplated just throwing her in a dumpster, the memory sent strange chills up her spine. Bloom shook her head and peeked over the huge bin to see Brandon talking to a girl out in front of the coffee store, he had a friendly smile on his face as he spoke to the girl Bloom could only assume was Mandy. This was the first time Bloom had ever seen the girl and she quickly jotted down everything about her and to be honest she was shocked. Mandy was as tall as a skyscraper, skinny and tall but still round enough to house the voluptuous curves on her chest and hips that gave her the body of a goddess. The girls skin was a pretty slight tanned and smooth as silk, polished nails, almond shaped eyes that sparkled gold. Her beautiful face was so perfect that Bloom had to marvel at its exact features that matched so well with the long wavy chocolate brown hair that reached her waist. And to top it all off she was stylish too, a thing Bloom could tell really grated Stella the wrong way. The girl wore a rainbow dress with gold earrings and golden flat sandals, Bloom was just noticing this when Stella snarled "Sandals!? Really?"

Bloom had to turn her face away to hide the smile that had grown on her lips at her friends anger, the fact that right now it looked like Stella and Mandy were the same height with Stella in six inch heels and Mandy in flat sandals, this meant that Mandy was taller than Stella and in this world it was a hard thing to do. Stella had always been taller than others, it helped her that she got to talk down to people but in this situation, take away her heels and she lost all that smug power. As if she needed another reason to dislike Mandy. Bloom watched the couple chat for a moment, noticing the way they seemed familiar with each other in a friendly way but if she had to guess if it was more than friendly, she really couldn't. Brandon was always a ladies' man and it looked that Mandy was a naturally confident person by the way she stood, who knew what was going on between them. Bloom didn't voice her thoughts but simply said "They look like friends to me but I wouldn't say overly friendly"

Stella turned to stare at Bloom with a look of rage "Bloom, he just took a sip from her coffee. Do you know what that means?! They just swapped germs and saliva! That's practically kissing in my eyes!"

"Stella!" Bloom looked back at the couple who were looking up at the sky and observing a cloud that –gulp- was shaped strangely like a heart, Bloom got Stella's attention before she could notice "That doesn't mean anything, they're friends"

"We'll see" She looked back at Mandy "And she's wearing sandals, who wears sandals?"

"You used to wear sandals when I first met you"

"Shut up!"

Bloom smiled and leaned against the dumpster "You know if you're so worried about it just go ask him about what they're doing here, if he acts guilty you have your answer"

Stella looked at Bloom with a pouty expression "Why do I have to go ask him?"

"Because you're the one who's sleeping with him!" Bloom reached out and pushed Stella into the street, Stella forgot her boyfriend for a moment to hurriedly whisper to Bloom "Shhhh! Nobody knows about that!"

"Everybody knows about that, you're together all the time. It's not that hard to figure out" Bloom grabbed Stella's purse from her hand and fished out a credit card and expertly threw it the three metres to the store clerk who was heading their way to question Stella about her red dress leaving the store. Bloom quickly grabbed Stella by the wrist so she couldn't escape and plastered a smile on her face before waving her hand in the air and yelling "Brandon!"

Brandon heard her and turned to look their way, Stella quickly smiled and assumed an air of confidence that Bloom knew was totally fake. Brandon and Mandy turned to face them and smiled, Brandon was obviously happy to see them and ran quickly over to the two girls and swept Stella up into a hug "Baby, what're you doing here?"

Stella was overjoyed at the greeting and hugged him tightly back "We're just doing some shopping. Oh I've missed you! Sweetie when are you coming back to Saloria, it's lonely without you!"

Brandon dropped Stella gently back on her feet with a smile "Soon I promise" He turned to Bloom and to her happy surprise gave her an equally warm hug "It's my sister in law!"

Bloom laughed as she hugged him back. Since Brandon and Sky were so close they always thought of themselves as brothers, which meant that when Bloom married Sky she had become Brandon's little sister in law. This little development had given Bloom so much joy, being able to know her family was that much bigger and ever since the war ended and things had gotten back to normal her and Brandon had bonded over embarrassing stories about Sky. Really, he was the older brother she'd never had "Big brother!" She yelled back at him as he set her on her feet "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in ages!"

Brandon scratched his head and smiled "Oh yeah I've been busy, since entering the student-teacher program things have been pretty hectic. How's Sky?"

"Busy, like you. Lately it seems like everyone one of us is too busy to hang out anymore, we all thought we'd have more time together once we all graduated" Bloom shoved her hands in her pockets and smiled sheepishly "Boy were we wrong"

Brandon reached out and ruffled Bloom's red hair "Ah don't worry, we'll spend some brother-sister time tomorrow after the mission"

"Yes!" Stella pitched in happily, clapping her hands together "I can't wait, the whole gang back together" And no Mandy Bloom thought as she looked at Stella.

"Oh right" Brandon said quickly as he spotted the tall brown haired girl standing just out of their group "Bloom you haven't met my student yet" Mandy stepped forward and gave Bloom a wide smile with white teeth that Bloom had to blink at the brightness, Brandon continued "This warrior-to-be is Mandy, I'm teaching her to be a Specialist, like me" he turned to Bloom with a brotherly smile "Mandy this firecracker here is my friend Sky's wife, princess Bloom, future queen of Eraklyon"

Mandy's smile got even brighter as Bloom almost buckled in on herself at the mention of the word 'queen' but still was able to swallow her crippling dread and smile back at her "Nice to meet you"

"No, it's nice to meet _you_!" Mandy said in a high musical voice that could stun an angel, she stepped forward and enveloped Bloom in a tight welcoming hug "Oh it's so good to finally meet you Bloom, Brandon and Sky have told me all about you. Sky said you were beautiful but really you're stunning!" She gasped happily "Oh my god I love your shoes!"

Bloom stepped out of the hug with shock "Oh...thanks" Bloom didn't miss Stella's eye roll "I've heard...a lot about you too" She didn't mention that she'd heard it all from Stella and it had been mostly bad.

Mandy bounced on the spot in excitement "I can't believe we ran into you" She turned to Stella "Hi Stella, cute dress"

Stella smiled sourly and looked down at herself "Oh this, I was just trying it on. Now that I think about it I'm not gonna buy it" By the end of the sentence Bloom could almost taste the bitterness coming off Stella's words. Quickly clearing her throat she turned back to Brandon and Mandy "So what are you guys doing here?"

"Oh we were just getting some coffee, we were exhausted after our training session and needed a quick boost" Mandy replied as she looked up at Brandon with friendly affection.

Brandon continued on in a casual voice "Yeah we've got some time left, do you two want to have lunch with us?"

"We'd love too!" Bloom answered quickly before Stella could decline, Stella gave her a secret look that spoke volumes but Bloom chose to ignore her "I'll just tell the store to send our things to the ship"

Bloom skipped out of there quickly before Stella could devour her, she quickly directed the store clerks to their ship and ran out quickly to the group. They walked down the street to a shop that sold all sorts of greasy foods and walked in, Stella would have commented on the fatty foods but she was too busy eyeing Mandy with a critical eye. The four of them sat down at a table with Stella and Brandon next to each other with Bloom and Mandy side by side "So what's good here?" Bloom asked as she skimmed the menu.

"Oh we come here for lunch all the time, it's the best food in town" Brandon replied as he handed a silent Stella a menu, next to Bloom Mandy nodded.

"We?" Stella glanced up questioningly with innocent eyes.

"Oh the whole class" Mandy smiled at her and pulled a napkin from the dispenser "I don't even need to read the menu anymore, I've got it all up here" She tapped her temple.

"How nice" Stella looked back to the menu "Do you think they have steak?"

Mandy laughed "No! This is a fast food place. They only serve stuff that can be cooked in less than ten minutes" Bloom feared for the girl's life at the look Stella gave her for laughing "It's all greasy and fatty foods from here on out your majesty"

Bloom watched as Stella's eye twitched, Brandon leaned over to her and took her hand on the table top "Relax, some real food won't hurt. Why don't you go with the cheeseburger?"

"I've never had one" Stella said as she eyed the menu.

Brandon, Mandy and Bloom all stared at her with wide eyes, they didn't even have it in them to laugh it was so shocking "You've never had a cheeseburger?" Bloom asked, astounded.

"How have you never had one?" Mandy asked while tapping her perfect nails on the table top.

Stella looked slightly embarrassed "Why? What is it?"

"Oh babe, you haven't lived until you've had a big greasy cheeseburger that's just dripping with fat. And fries! Lots of fries!" Brandon was looked down at her with sweet eyes, like you would when your pet hamster is trying to figure out how to run in the wheel for the first time. Stella looked slightly alarmed and turned to Bloom with wide eyes, questioning.

Bloom smiled slightly and shrugged her shoulders "It's a...common person food" She looked at Brandon and Mandy "No offence"

Brandon shook his head good naturedly while Mandy waved a hand "Nah its fine, today is a momentous occasion. The day Princess Stella joins the common people in the favouritism of the cheeseburger"

"Yeah!" Brandon high fived her.

When the actual food was placed before Stella and she began to eat it the group watched her while they spoke, Bloom couldn't help but like the tall Mandy for her bubbly nature. Through the meal Stella was mostly silent except at the end when she took a big gulp of water and said "I feel sick"

"All greasy food makes people feel a bit sick after, you'll get used to it" Brandon wrapped an arm around her while Stella tried to whip the grease off her hands.

"I'm gonna go wash this off" She said as she scooted away from the table.

"Yeah I'm gonna go buy a slice of chocolate cake for later" Mandy bounced away from the table happily, leaving Bloom and Brandon.

As soon as the two girls were away Brandon got a serious look on his face and turned to Bloom "What's wrong with Stella?"

_Ah crap _"What do you mean?"

Brandon gave Bloom a look "Come on Bloom, nobody could miss that look on her face all through the meal"

"Maybe it was the burger" Bloom suggested, hoping he'd let it go.

"It wasn't. I know Stella, she's barely said anything since we met up, has she been like that all day?" Brandon looked truly concerned and Bloom felt herself smile sympathetically,

"I think maybe she's a little more worried about her father than she lets on, I think her mother is driving her crazy, she's stressed about the fashion show that's coming up and I think above all...she misses you. I mean you're her personal body guard, you'd think you'd be with her all the time"

Brandon ran a hand through his brown hair "I know, I've taken on too much. It's just being her body guard and Mandy's mentor, it's just so busy, I need to cut back on my hours with her to find time to do all the stuff at Alfea"

"She understands how hard you work and she tries to support you with everything but the girl gets lonely. She doesn't want you to quit working with Mandy because she knows how proud you are of your teaching" Small lie, if given the choice Bloom knew Stella wouldn't want Brandon anywhere near Mandy "And it would break her heart if you quit as her bodyguard"

Brandon nodded and looked down at the table, not saying anything for a while. Bloom thought for a moment before asking "Hey Brandon, how are things with Mandy?"

Brandon looked up from his thoughts "Great, she's really cool. Loud and confident, she has one hell of a punch"

Bloom nodded and traced a water pattern into the table "You like her then?"

Brandon didn't notice the weight behind the question "I do, a lot actually. She's a wonderful friend"

Bloom raised an eyebrow "Do you ever find yourself wondering why you like her so much?"

Brandon looked suspicious now "Where's this coming from Bloom?"

Bloom tried hard to look innocent, like Valtor had taught her "Nothing, it's just she...reminds me of someone"

Brandon never got to ask who, Mandy sat down with a gleeful yell "Oh I'm going to enjoy this piece of heaven but don't worry master, only after we finish our training session"

Stella arrived back at the table quietly, she sat down, Brandon looked at her carefully and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug. Stella looked surprised but hugged him back; Bloom smiled and hoped that she hadn't overstepped the mark. Mandy was busy ruffling through her bag when she suddenly exclaimed "Jeez, where'd the time go? We've got five minutes to be back at Alfea!"

Brandon quickly jumped up and grabbed his jacket "Yeah we better get back" Once his jacket was on he turned to Bloom with a smile "Sis, until tomorrow"

Bloom saluted him silently, Brandon turned to Stella and without a word gave her a deep passionate kiss, again she was surprised. When they parted her gave her the sweetest smile and said "I love you. I'll see you soon"

With that Mandy waved at them quickly and the two of them bolted out the door, leaving Bloom and Stella still at the table. Bloom looked at Stella who was blushing and looking down at her nails "So, what'd you think of her?"

"I'm more interested to hear what you thought of her" Bloom replied, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair.

Stella looked up with a glum expression "They get on so well! With their high fiving and their cheeseburgers! And look!" Stella reached across the table and picked up a napkin that had been folded into a swan "She can make swan napkins! She's just full of surprises!"

"Really? You're threatened by her powers of origami?" Bloom laughed and slapped a hand against the table "Oh Stella, you totally don't see it!"

Stella went red in the face "See what?"

Bloom smiled and leaned forward "Stella...she's exactly like you"

Stella blinked in shock "What? We're nothing alike!"

"Oh you are! She's tall, she's beautiful, she's got great fashion sense, she's all bubbly and fun. Stella she's you!"

Stella looked stricken for a long moment "Does this mean Brandon's in love with her?"

Bloom placed a hand over hers "No. He loves you. And I don't think he could handle loving two of you, even that's too much" Bloom paused for a moment "But there is one difference between you"

"Power of origami?" Stella suggested as she tilted her head to the side.

Bloom smiled "Nope. You are a little different. Because she is you three years ago, the way you used to be before everything happened. You've changed and you've grown since then and if it's even possible Brandon loves you more than he did then. You've got nothing to worry about"

Stella thought about this before smiling a small smile, pulling out her phone she quickly scrolled through the numbers until she found Brandon's. With lightening speed she texted a message to him.

_Thanks, I love you too._

...

"Oh come on!" Evil Bloom exclaimed from where she stood. The two of them sat in evil Bloom's private chambers; Bloom had made herself comfortable on a red lounge chair and played with her hair while evil Bloom was content to pace the length of the room in frustration "Damn it! You got to meet Mandy _and_ you all had lunch together! I can't believe I missed that!"

Bloom smiled as she glanced down at her hair as she plaited it "I know, Stella was pretty broken up about the whole thing but by the end she was happy"

"So what happened next?"

"Nothing" Bloom shrugged "We finished our shopping and came home. Where were you all day, I was surprised you didn't come with us?"

Evil Bloom sat down next to Bloom on the couch and looked carefree "I had more important things to do. Can you keep a secret?"

Bloom looked up at her "With myself? Yeah"

Evil Bloom smiled cheekily and leaned in to whisper to Bloom "I have some gossip that you can't tell anyone, or maybe you can for entertainment purposes"

"Just tell me"

"After you and Stella left to go shopping I followed Sky to his meeting with his father and guess what, the old man cancelled on him. Said he wasn't feeling well and that he needed rest but he lied! As soon as Sky left the room the guy was being escorted to the shipping dock, he took a private Eraklyon ship and went somewhere"

Bloom was interested "Did you follow him?"

"Of course! You want to know where he went? The same place as you and Stella! He was in the same city as you"

"Near Alfea?" Bloom asked, confused as why the king would need to lie about that "Where did he go?"

"Some building a couple of blocks from you, it was obviously some official looking building, really tall and big. Made of mirrors actually. But it was strange because all these other kings were there, even Stella's dad! Isn't he supposed to be sick or something?"

"Yeah he is. What were they all doing there?"

"Well they were all going into this one big room but I couldn't follow them!" Evil Bloom looked glum, crossing her arms like a child.

"Wait, what do you mean 'couldn't follow them'?"

"I mean there was this magical force field blocking me, I couldn't get in, someone obviously didn't want anyone who wasn't supposed to be there to get in. Suspicious, don't you think?"

"Sure, really suspicious" Bloom thought about this and wondered again why it would be kept secret from Sky. He is the king after all "What happened when they came out?"

"They all looked really serious and stuff, like they'd just been told they couldn't have any candy"

"Huh" Bloom looked back at her other self seriously "Keep an eye on things, if there's going to be another meet let me know and we'll follow them"

Evil Bloom leaned back, surprised "Whoa, really? You'd do something so...rebel?"

Bloom rolled her eyes and finished her plait "You know before I met you I was you, we were the same mischievous person. Maybe you rubbed off some of that evil in you; anyway I don't like this thing. Especially about Stella's father, she's been worried about him and he's been going off on secret meetings?"

"I don't think he looked that sick" Evil Bloom added, twirling her own hair around her fingers "You're right though, we should keep an eye on this. Should we tell our husband?"

"My husband. And no, not yet. We need more than a hunch and some secretive meetings"

Evil Bloom popped her feet into Bloom's lap and rested her head against the end of the couch "You excited about tomorrow, everyone's going to be together again!"

Bloom smiled and nodded "Very excited. It'll be nice to see everyone again. Let's just hope we don't start another war like every other time we're all together"


	3. A Whole New World

Chapter Three: A Whole New World

Linphea was stunning to say the least. Everywhere you looked you saw extensive rainforests and jungles filled to the brim with flowers, trees and waterfalls. Everything was covered in a lush green and a floral sent permeated the air like a cloud of blissful fog. Bloom stood captivated by the sight in the glass ship that soared over the forests with little sound except for the audible gasps of the other tourists, they huddled to the sides of the ship to look out at the luxurious sight and snap their cameras gleefully. Bloom was one of many who had chosen to stand out in the air and let the wind blow past them, if she closed her eyes she could almost imagine that she was flying through the air. Nobody bothered to pay special attention to Bloom because they simply didn't recognise her in her white and red sundress and glasses, her hair blowing around her; they all just took her for a nice rich girl on tour.

That morning when she woke up Bloom had been excited to see her friends again, even though she saw Stella just yesterday she was still looking forward to it. The only person who was more excited than her was evil Bloom who had crashed into her bedroom while yelling "Get up, get up! We're off to see our friends!" and then jumped on the massive bed while they still slept, to Sky's horror and Bloom's annoyance. After the rude awakening Bloom had crawled out of bed and hurriedly gotten dressed, hardly able to contain her own glee. The plan was to all meet on Linphea and on the ride over there Bloom was unable to sit still without tapping her feet and looking out the window to catch sight of the small but beautiful planet. When the ship touched the ground on the ship dock and opened the back hatch Sky had to remind Bloom that there would be other people there and would most likely expect her to act like a queen. Bloom had just smiled and bolted out the door, screeching to a halt when she reached the meeting area, spinning around in circles to try and find one of her friends. It didn't take long.

People were walking in all directions with their families and pausing to inspect shop windows that connected with the shipping area, to Bloom's knowledge all the buildings were built as one to create a luxurious shopping centre. Flora had told her that once you left the centre you would walk out into rainforest and not see another piece of technology as long as you were there, so the amount of people that were getting off the ships were using this last opportunity to buy stuff before venturing into the wild forests of Linphea. Bloom was aware that evil Bloom had followed her out and was standing beside her and she had to try her best not to talk to her in public for fear of being seen speaking to thin air "Okay you look for the girls, I'm gonna go find me some candy" Evil Bloom disappeared and Bloom still looked for any sign of her friends, she was on her tippy toes trying to see over the crowd when she heard an unmistakable voice.

"What do you mean you don't sell high caffeinated coffee?" A stern voice demanded from a nearby cafe, her sensitive ears picking up a familiar voice. Bloom smiled and spun around and walked quickly toward the store, once inside she saw a small crowd of people who had their attention on one woman who was starting to make a scene. The people had backed away from the angry pink haired girl as she continued to scold the ashamed looking cashier "This very cafe is owned by Jonathan Samuel Brown, it is a one of thousands spread all over Magix, created not fifty years ago and for fifty years it has been serving as a special 'The supreme high caffeinated coffee' guaranteed to be sold in every store. Are you trying to tell me that this one store in all of Magix is the exception to that promise?"

The cashier had turned a vicious red colour and looked ready to burst into tears, Bloom sighed sympathetically and walked up to the counter "Techna leave the poor man alone, it's not his fault"

Bloom's long time technological friend from the planet Zenith turned to Bloom with her stern and confident face, with blue eyes that shown with knowledge and pink hair that reached just to her shoulders. The girl wore heavy hiking boots that came up to her ankles with three quarter white pants and a purple sweater that hung off one shoulder. Nobody would have noticed a change in the girls face when she turned to look at Bloom except for the immediate softening in her eyes and a small tug of a smile "Bloom I don't understand why they don't sell it, they're supposed to guarantee it!"

"We're on Linphea, you know they don't sell anything that directly enhances a person's thinking state, it's all natural" Bloom soothed the girl in a gentle voice but at the mention of 'natural' Techna's shoulders got even stiffer "Why can't you just drink some nice calming tea?"

Techna stepped back with a shocked expression, the group of people still watching the scene stepped back warily "Tea?" The word sounded foreign to her "Why on Magix would I ever drink tea?"

Bloom sighed and turned to the cashier who looked relieved that Techna wasn't going to yell at him again "Do you have anything with Caffeine in it?"

The man with brown hair and freckles was nervously glancing at Techna who had crossed her arms crossed hauntily and was glaring at him "W-we have coffee flavoured muffins?"

Bloom turned back to Techna with an encouraging smile "Muffins, nice"

Techna did not look impressed "Fine, two muffins but don't expect a tip"

Bloom sighed in relief and walked with Techna to the side of the counter to wait for their order "So can we say hello now?"

Techna looked confused for a moment before startling and smiling brightly "Oh Bloom! Hello!" The two girls hugged tightly while Bloom laughed "It's good to see you haven't changed your ways when it comes to caffeine and your coffee routine"

Techna smiled sheepishly "We lived together for four years, you know I love my coffee, especially in the morning" Techna paused to yawn.

"Yeah I remember, I also recall that time when Musa drank all the coffee and when you found out there was none left you went into her room and dismantled all her musical equipment. It took her three hours to put everything back together again, not even magic could figure out what horrible things you did to mess everything up"

Techna smiled "Oh yes that, I still maintain that I was helping her. After she got everything back together again her equipment never worked better"

Bloom nodded and looked out the window, catching sight of Sky outside and speaking to an official looking man "Well I think she still holds a grudge" Her voice was distracted as she watched Sky. The man bowed to her husband began to gesture toward a more private area in the shopping centre; Bloom was slightly aware that Techna had picked up and paid for her muffin. Bloom turned to her "So where is everyone?"

"Well the guys are meant to meet in conference room B5 upstairs to get a debriefing on the mission at nine so I guess they're all heading up there"

Bloom nodded and began walking toward the exit "Okay let's go"

Techna and Bloom walked quickly toward the moving stairs that led up and looked to be closed off to the public, Bloom spotted Sky and that man just up ahead of them "So is this mission dangerous?"

"Well if they called in the Specialists then it has to have some degree of danger, after all the monster they have to fight does suck the life out of people" Techna replied casually as she fished out one of her muffins and took a timid bite, she spoke as she chewed "I wouldn't worry. The guys can handle themselves"

When they reached the top of the stairs Bloom saw with happy surprise that Sky had run into Timmy and the two were a in the middle of reunion, she smiled, pleased to know that Sky would also be seeing all his friends again "How have you and Timmy been?"

The two girls hung back a bit to let the two guys catch up, Techna leaned against the rail and looked down at all the people "We've had a productive year since the war, at first I was called back to Zenith to be with my parents for a while, you wouldn't believe the amount of work it took me to convince them to let me move out again. I still have to call them every week to reassure them I'm not causing trouble but they're happy to know that I've finally gotten a job"

"You got a job?" Bloom asked in a surprised but happy voice "Where?"

Techna smiled proudly "It's a place called 'M.I.H.Q', have you heard of it?"

"No" Bloom shook her head, it sounded very familiar but she couldn't pin point it "I feel like I've heard of it before, have I been there?"

Techna bit her lip and leaned in to whisper "We actually have been there. Do you remember two years ago when Valtor sent us to break into that building with the high tech equipment? The one where Layla almost got captured by the guards and broke her finger fighting off a dog"

Bloom gasped as the memory came back to her, it was when they were criminals working for Valtor, he'd sent them to steal a certain machine about the size of a mail box and it could forge ID's and creates fake identities "Yes! Oh my god you work there now?"

"I do!" Techna smiled and bounced on the spot with glee, a rare emotion for her "And I couldn't be happier, if course they don't know it was me who broke in but really it was a lifetime ago. But I love my job Bloom, I work in the lab and it's my job to create micro high explosives to experiment with in our bid to destroy any armies that may pose a threat to Magix. After my part in the war they thought they could put my knowledge of fighting, war and weapons to good use, I'm at the top of my field already!"

Bloom stared at her friend for a long moment, a little dumbfounded "So you make weapons?"

"Only tiny ones, at a micro level. Miniature, it's like a silent and sneaky weapon" Techna explained neutrally, not really seeing why Bloom was so shocked.

Bloom shook her head "Okay just be careful. Umm, so what's Timmy up too?"

Techna sighed with a small smile and looked over to the two specialists who were now sitting down and looking at a phone Timmy had pulled from his pocket "Well I guess he has three jobs now. One as a specialist, I think he'll always be a specialist. And his other two jobs are kind of together, he works at Alfea now part time with the teacher/student program and also as a consultant at M.I.H.Q, we sort of work in the same felid but not really. His work is more of technology in the modern home and office"

Bloom was impressed, she thought back to Brandon and how busy he is but it seemed to pale in comparison to how much work Timmy was putting himself through "This student and teacher thing is really taking up a lot of time with the guys, how long does it go on for?"

"Oh just for two more months" Techna had been eating away at her muffin since the stairs and it looked like she was really starting to enjoy it. Both girls looked up when they saw Timmy and Sky approaching them, Bloom smiled when they got closer "Hi Timmy, it's good to see you again"

"Hello Bloom" Timmy was awkward as always, he seemed to be trying to decide whether to bow or shake her hand. So Bloom just laughed and pulled him into a quick hug.

"I heard about your jobs, congratulations. Is it hard to juggle all that work?" Bloom had moved easily until Sky draped am arm around her shoulder.

Timmy looked at the floor bashfully "Well I guess so. But the world was built on hard work; you need to keep at it"

Techna smiled at him in her sweet way that told Bloom she found Timmy's attitude cute "We get a call from Flora every week reminding us not to spread ourselves too thin or we might wear out, every Monday at eight in the morning"

"Like clockwork" Timmy glanced at Techna and smiled "Did you find any coffee?"

Techna's smile fell "Ugh no. There was this situation and I couldn't get any because they don't sell it"

"They don't sell it?" Timmy looked astounded; Bloom and Sky had to hide their smiles.

"I know! But they did have these coffee flavoured muffins" She held out the bag for him "I got you one"

While Timmy ate the muffin and Techna grumbled some more about it Bloom and Sky looked at each other and smile "Who was that guy you were talking too before?"

"Linphea's representative who is supposed to take us out into the forest and find that monster" Sky shrugged with a half smile "It's almost nine, where is everybody?"

Bloom thought back to all her friends, Stella and Brandon were almost always late, Musa and Riven even more so but it was weird that Layla and Nabu weren't here yet. Not to mention Flora and Helia who actually lived on this planet "I don't know, it's weird" She looked over the side of the rail and into the crowd, a commotion at the exit to the ship dock drew her eye and she laughed "Wait, I think I see Brandon and Riven"

Techna, Timmy, Sky and Bloom all watched as Brandon and Riven burst through the glass doors and began to race with astounding speed through the crowd, people were startled and moved quickly out of their way. The two guys bolted up the moving stairs and almost tripped over each other at the top, coming to a stop just beside where the group stood watching. Both were smiling but the unmistakeable glint of competitiveness was in their eyes, both breathed hard as they tried to speak.

"I won!" Brandon exclaimed happily as he bent over to catch his breath.

"You wish, I was totally in front of you!" Riven replied as he stood up with a stubborn smile, the silent group not speaking because they knew it would be bad to disagree.

Brandon straightened and crossed his arms "The only reason you were in front was because you practically knocked over that old woman on the way in. I was the gentleman and ran around her, you ass!"

"She got in my way!"

"There was also a little boy you sent flying!"

"Oh come on, I just grazed him!" Riven waved a hand dismissively.

"Whatever, I still won" Brandon looked away and pretended to be bored, still not noticing the group standing just behind him.

Riven however had seen them and turned to them with a dangerous look "Call it, who won?"

"Oh no, we're not getting into this" Sky replied as he leaned on his side against the rail with a cheerful expression "I have a feeling it would come to fists and I really don't feel like knocking you flat on your back"

"Who said you had to race anyway?" Timmy asked trying to distract the guys from violence.

"Musa said it would be funny" Brandon explained innocently with a shrug.

Bloom groaned and hung her head "Oh god, Musa why?!"

"Because it was freaking hilarious!" A musical voice answered from the bottom of the stairs, Bloom glanced over the side and spotted a small pixie like friend Musa as she sauntered her way up the stairs. She wore high knee socks, short shorts and a striped T-shirt that had long sleeves that had been pushed up to her elbows, a smirk on her face. Bloom sighed and walked quickly down the stairs to meet the girl in a hug "Why hasn't someone dropped a house on you yet?"

Musa laughed and tightly hugged Bloom back, her long black hair was lose around her back and fluttered around her face "What good would that do? I'll just walk it off"

Bloom saw Stella before she spoke, she was walking up the stairs just behind them with a smile "Don't worry, we'll throw you into a river while we're here and see if you melt" Stella caught up to them just as the girl reached the top of the stairs, Stella stepped forward quickly and tackled Techna "Techna! Oh I've missed you and you're brilliant brain, you have to tell me how I can get my mother off my back and cure my father, okay?"

Techna smiled and patted Stella on the back "I'll try my best"

Since Stella looked like she wasn't going to be letting go of Techna any time soon Musa just stepped forward and slapped her on the back "Sup Tech? Still working at that nerd place?"

Techna rolled her eyes "It is not a nerd place Musa, its called M.I.H.Q. Magical Intelligence Headquarters. It's the top facility in all of Magix"

"Yeah yeah, hey is there any coffee in this place?" Musa asked as se he looked at the shops down below.

"No!" Techna and Timmy both yelled in unison.

Musa got the message and remained silent, the only sign she was shocked was the slight widening of her eyes that she sent Riven's way, to which he slightly smiled back at her. Stella stepped up beside Brandon and looked around "Hey where's Flora, Helia, Layla and Nabu?"

"Right here!"

The group turned and spotted Layla leaning out of a room with glass doors and shades, she looked about ready to burst out laughing "You guys know we've been here for over an hour right?"

The group looked embarrassed and annoyed, after a moment they followed Layla into a dark kind of room that had a large table and multiple chairs set up, the man Bloom had seen before stood up a magically operated projector. As they walked in they saw Flora sitting on a nearby couch in the corner with Helia standing beside her and Nabu sitting at one of eight chairs at the table. Flora glanced up and smiled brightly "Finally, I was worried you wouldn't get here" She bounced up from her spot and skipped over to the group, Stella was the first one she met in a hug "Stella! You're here, welcome to Linphea!"

"Thanks Flo, it's really beautiful" Stella smiled and stepped away, moving so Flora could catch Techna in a hug next "You're going to love it here"

Techna looked hesitant "Really? There's no technology and no coffee"

"Oh Techna let it go!" Bloom moaned as Flora hugged her, Bloom let herself feel completely happy for a moment. The group said a warm greeting for everyone and for a while they all just stood in a big group and chatted while catching up but was interrupted after a minute by the man standing near the projector "We need to get down to business"

"Oh come on pops" Musa whined as she was in the middle of showing Stella her new favourite song on her iPod "Just a few more minutes!"

The man did not look impressed but instead cleared his throat and gestured to the door. The girls unhappily said their goodbyes to the guys, wishing them luck with their monster. Bloom gave Sky an especially long hug; this would be the first time since they got married that she would be leaving him "Be safe"

He kissed her on the cheek the gently pushed her toward the door, Bloom was the last one at the door when she looked back and saw evil Bloom appear out of nowhere and hug Sky. He obviously felt the pressure and furrowed his eyebrows and tried to move his arms "What the hell?"

Bloom sighed at the doorway "Relax, EB is just saying good luck"

"Don't leave meee!" Evil Bloom wailed as she fake cried, Bloom knew it was just an act to annoy her and make the situation creepy for everyone in the room.

"She's here?" Helia asked looking wary, as did all the other guys except for the man at the projector who looked confused.

"Oh gods, ask her not to dye my hair again while I sleep" Riven looked annoyed at the place where Sky was still being held, he looked uncomfortable.

Evil Bloom laughed and nodded her head to Riven "He had it coming, he called me Casper"

Bloom had to laugh "You shouldn't have teased her Riven"

Riven rolled his eyes and looked offended "She dyed my hair white!"

Bloom suppressed another laugh and said "Alright come on Bloom, we have to go and let the guys get to work, they won't be able to do the mission properly if you're floating around" Evil Bloom was able to detach herself from Sky to walk out the door with a glum expression. Once outside Bloom turned to her friends and smiled "So Flora, what are we doing today?"

Flora wore a pretty green dress with baby pink flowers on the belt and in her hair "Well I've signed us up for a site seeing tour, I figured it might be nice for you guys to see all the great places on my planet"

"Oh no, we won't be learning stuff will we? I mean there's not gonna be a pop quiz at the end or anything, right?" Musa looked horrified at the mention of a tour but next to her Techna and layla looked excited. Flora just laughed and shook her head "No quizzes, I promise. Just give it a chance alright" After that Flora had led them to a more public loading dock where a beautiful glass ship waited, it was made of steel with glass coating it so you could see out of it wherever you stood. As the girls waited to board Bloom look warily around at the people, hoping they didn't see them and start yelling, the last thing the girls needed was the media spoiling their day out. But it looked like everyone on deck was too busy looking at the ship to notice.

The people inside the ship were a different story, from the moment the six girls had entered the ship cameras had gone off and whispered conversations directed at them became quite obvious, it seemed that whenever the girls stood together in a group the image of them would send everyone aflutter, so they had escaped to their private room on top of the ship that Flora had rented for them. After settling in the ship had gently taken off and every room was filled with laughter and gasp of wonder as the forests and brightly lit flowers raced under them at a smooth speed. Bloom had been so struck by the beauty that she'd felt the sudden urge to stand out in the wind and let all her troubles float away, it was for this reason that Bloom had escaped outside. She thought she had gotten used to the staring and the gossip but it seemed the media was still hanging on their every move and taking what little details from their lives that they could to make scandalous stories to feed to the public. Other than the tourists reaction to the girls the day was going splendidly, the sun shown golden on everything, the girls were getting the whole day to catch up. As the crowd headed inside to check out the buffet Bloom was one of the only people left outside in the wind, it was then that her friends came out and joined her.

"Bloom, Bloom!" Layla exclaimed as she walked hurriedly out the door and to her side, speaking excitedly she held out a map to Bloom and pointed to a certain spot "Do you know what this is? We're going to be going there on the tour, it's called the 'Crystal Falls' and it's supposed to be beautiful"

"Actually it's one of the most beautiful sights in all of Magix" Flora added as she looked out into the distance of her planet.

"Why is it called the 'Crystal Falls'?" Asked Musa as she leaned right over the edge of the rail to look at the forest below, next to her Flora started to hang closer to her with a hand out in case she tripped over the edge.

Techna held up her phone to her face and read expertly "Crystal Falls, a luxurious waterfall on Linphea known for its beauty and stunning clear waters. It is said that if you stand at the top of the waterfall and look down it's like you are looking down on a thousand shinning diamonds. If you drink the water it can help heal any injury"

"Cool" Musa replied as she leaned forward even more, Flora beside her looked truly anxious "Musa please don't, I'd really hate it if you died on the tour I arranged and not to mention that Riven scares me when he's angry"

Musa chuckled and stood up straight, walking over to sit down on one of the chairs next to Techna. Flora sighed and turned to Stella who was standing in the sunny part of the deck with a small smile "So Stella, what's this I hear about your mother driving you crazy?"

"Oh my god it's terrible. If I thought she was bad before it's nothing compared to what she's like now, she has guards stationed at my bedroom door to make sure I don't sneak out, any sharp objects are to be kept away from me and she keeps going on and on about me going to see a therapist"

Layla looked up from the map with a shocked expression "No way, my parents have been bugging me about that too. My father's exact words were 'A person who starts two wars must have something wrong with them' and then they actually made me go to my first session and I just sat there for an hour not saying anything. He asked me all about Valtor and the Child of Chaos and I didn't want to talk about it, it's in the past. Dead and buried and please dude just get over it!"

Techna smile sympathetically "You think that's bad? The very first day I got back to Zenith, the very first minute I got home there was a physiatrist in my lounge room. I have to go see her every Sunday for three hours, I don't say anything either"

Musa observed her nails smugly "My dad wouldn't try anything like that, he knows the only way I get over stuff is with some serious alone time with my music. He knows I'm okay" he turned to look at Flora "What about you Flora, any drastic action from your parents after the war?"

Flora groaned and looked up at the sky "My whole family got together and did this sort of ceremony where you use the saliva of a goat, the blood of a sheep and the whole bunch of herbs and flowers to make a special herbal tea that you drink cold that supposed to bring on a heavy fever that lasts for three days that's supposed to sweat out all my bad thoughts and actions"

Stella nodded thoughtfully "So your families a bunch of voodoo weirdo's then"

Musa, layla and Stella burst out laughing while Flora smiled knowingly "Yeah sort of. It's from one of the legends that they tell is as kids, supposedly my ancestor invented it. I didn't drink it but my parents always remind me that they have a spare batch waiting for me"

Bloom smiled and rubbed a hand down Flora's back "Oh poor baby, I won't let you drink the weird tea" There was a weighted silence after that when the girls realised that Bloom was the only one that didn't have her parents with her after the war, Bloom noticed their shy looks "Guys it's okay, I'm over it. I spent a good few days on Earth getting my head together, after that I had Sky taking care of me"

"That's nice of him" Flora replied with a sweet smile.

"Hey Bloom?" Musa had magically conjured one of the pink drinks found at the buffet inside and was sipping it easily "Whatever happened to Diaspro?"

Bloom closed her eyes for a moment "She went back to her home planet and stayed there, I don't really know much after that. Sky and I have never really spoken about her, there's a lot we haven't spoken about yet actually. Do you guys ever...talk to the guys about the past?"

The girls visibly hesitated, Layla cleared her throat "Not really, at the beginning Nabu would tell me that if I needed to talk he was there but after a while I think he got the message that...I just didn't want too"

Musa nodded "Yeah as you can imagine me and Riven don't really talk about that stuff, like ever. It's kind of forbidden topic area. We had an argument once and he mentioned Valtor...and then I just stopped talking for a long time. I didn't even yell at him after that, I just looked at him and walked out of the room. I could tell by the look he gave me later that he knew he'd gone too far"

"Why don't we ever talk about it?" Bloom asked, truly wanting to know.

"I don't know" Stella answered with a thoughtful look "Every time I even think of telling Brandon about the people I've hurt and the terrible things I did...I just don't. My whole mind tells me not too"

Bloom sighed and looked off into the beautiful distance "I guess we'll never tell them about that time with Valtor...because really...it was a different lifetime"

...

When the girls went back inside and hung out some more all talk of the war and Valtor stopped, they'd had enough for one day. There was an announcement that the ship would be landing at Crystal Falls soon and that there would be an information session in the main part of the ship, the girls didn't attend but opted to sit in their glass room on top of the ship and eat breakfast. The room consisted of cream coloured couches lining the edges of the room, with a TV on the wall, a fridge under it, a private bathroom that was one of the few rooms on the ship where privacy could be found and a table with nice chairs to sit at as they ate. As the girls chatted and Bloom chewed on her pancakes she noticed that evil Bloom had made her way back inside "Where have you been? You keep disappearing"

The girls glanced up and noted the thin air speaking thing that they'd become accustomed too when Bloom was around, they ignored it. Evil Bloom smiled and crossed her arms over her chest "You know I have to spend the rest of my life with you, I deserve some time away. So what's up? Did I miss much?"

"Just catching up" Bloom turned back to the table and took a deep swig of juice. Evil Bloom sat down beside her, startling Techna when the chair suddenly moved, she rested an elbow on the table and looked sneaky "So did you ask Stella about her father not being sick? Because before you woke up this morning I took a trip over to Saloria and found Queen Luna talking to a doctor that said that he has to stay in bed, says the poor dear king Radius can't even walk around he's so very sick"

Bloom peeked across at her questioningly "Really? And you're sure it was him you saw at that place?"

Evil Bloom nodded "I'm certain! Ask Stella about it"

Bloom turned to her friend who was flicking through the channels on TV at top speed "Stell? How's your father doing?"

Stella glanced away from the TV and back, distracted "Oh umm, okay I guess. I haven't seen him in a while; my mom says he's too sick for visitors"

Evil Bloom gave Bloom a pointed look, Bloom was about to inquire further when Layla suddenly jumped up from her spot with a smile "We're there, look in the distance" She quickly ran over to the window and pointed in the direction the ship was heading, Bloom looked out a saw a glaring light amidst a jungle of trees and sky "What's that light?"

Flora smiled knowingly "That's not a light, that's Crystal falls"

"Jeez" Evil Bloom mused quietly "That is one shiny waterfall"

When the girls got off the ship the gossiping people started to stare at them again, Bloom just looked away but she could tell that Flora was upset by it, Linphea was her home and to be a media freak on your own planet was upsetting. Stella tugged Flora and the rest of them ahead of the group so they could escape the whispering and walk on their own, the girls walked easily through jungle, keeping to the dirt path "How long since you last saw the waterfall Flora?" Stella asked, just to take her friends mind off of the people.

Flora looked up "Oh, about ten years. My family lives in the city and that's all the way on the other side of the planet so if you ever want to see the waterfall or drink from it you need to come a long way to get it. And just so you know, taking water away from the waterfall is forbidden"

"Damn" Evil Bloom said as she jumped over a large fallen tree a few metres away "I was gonna take some and sell it on eBay"

"They don't have eBay in Magix!" Bloom called out to her, a smile forming at the idea. Flora caught the jist of the conversation and yelled out sternly where Bloom was smiling "No stealing the water EB!"

"Buzz kills" Evil Bloom mumbled as she walked.

Techna was walking beside Flora with her phone out, it seemed she couldn't get a signal this far out where there was no technology; she got so frustrated with her phone that she started banging it to make it work. Stella was walking beside Bloom; she could hear her grumbling about the terrain "Nobody said anything about hiking!"

"Stella it's five minutes to the waterfall, I think you can survive" Musa yelled back at her from up ahead, she had in her ear phones and was listening to music but the sonar hearing made sure she still heard the conversation "I mean didn't we all live in the wilderness for ages?"

Bloom groaned "Okay that's enough. Musa, don't go there. Techna, give it up there's no electricity. Stella, you knew what you were in for when you signed up so stop complaining. EB, leave the damn water alone"

Layla laughed at her friends grudging faces while Flora turned and smiled at Bloom sweetly, thankful. When the shining waterfall came into sight the girls all gasped and stood stunned as they gazed up at it, it truly was magnificent. The waterfall stood far up into the sky, you literally had to crane your neck to see the top, the water sprayed down in flowing waves. The most spectacular part was the glowing light that came off each drop of water, even without the sun Bloom knew that the water would shine in the night. As the tour group caught up the guide told them all about the waterfalls history which the girls already knew, the only surprising part was when the guide said lastly "But all these things about the waterfall came much later, the very first legend of the Crystal Falls came from way back when Magix was being discovered. Even before civilisations were formed there was a legend that said that if you jumped into the waterfall it would take you to wherever...or whenever you wanted to go, like a portal. But it's been tried thousands of times but it looks like it doesn't work. Moving on..."

Bloom looked beside her to see her evil self staring up at the waterfall with clear eyes, the girl turned to her and in a rare moment asked her a question that was dripping with condescending teasing "If you could go anywhere, or whenever, where would you go?"

Bloom didn't need to think about the question "I'd go back and save my parents...all of them"

After that the girls were given the opportunity to walk up a narrow stone staircase to the top to stand on the edge and look down, it took a long time and there was a lot of complaining but once at the top the girls were so humbled by the view that they fell silent...except for Musa and EB.

"Check this out!" Musa yelled at the top of her lungs, racing forward to a small bridge that had been built on the very edge over the water where you could see directly down "This is so cool, I could write a song about this!"

Evil Bloom had pulled herself up onto the railing and was leaning over to see "Wow, hey Bloom come here! It really does look like a thousand crystals" Bloom wandered over at her own pace to join her friends "Hey Bloom, dare you to jump in"

Bloom looked up at her evil self "Not a chance"

Flora sighed with bliss "Isn't it beautiful?"

Techna spoke beside her "To think this thing has been here since the very start of Magix"

Bloom thought for a moment about Magix and its history; it occurred to her that she knew very little about her own history. Of course she knew about her real parents and her sister but beyond that she knew nothing, she didn't know her grandparents or their parents. She knew nothing. It was moments like this that Bloom felt...very alone.

**My goal is to make this story longer than twenty chapters...I will! I WILL!**


	4. The History of a Lonely Girl

**The reason I count this as kind of a sequel but kind of not is because of the stuff learned in this chapter, I start to make up the history of Magix to set the scene for the whole story. That's what I've been doing these past few chapters, just setting the scene. Pardon me if you don't like people messing with the Winx club universe but it's necessary for the story.**

Chapter Four: The History of a Lonely Girl

After the entertainment with the waterfall the girls had gone back to the ship, after half an hour longer they had travelled to their next historical destination in Linphea. Bloom hadn't known about it but she knew it was important when she stepped off the ship and came face to face with a battlefield, the ground still looked charred from where it had been burned, tree still white and black, the air was heavier. Bloom looked around and felt like this was the only spot on all of this beautiful planet that wasn't pretty, it was still breath taking but not in a good way. As people piled off the ship to look around and snapped photo's Bloom saw Stella's eyes go wide and Techna almost drop her phone "Oh my gods" Layla mumbled as she looked around.

"Is-is this?" Stella whispered as she walked a few more hesitant steps. Bloom tried to get the idea of what was so shocking but she couldn't, she didn't recognise this land at all.

"What the hell is this is place?" Evil Bloom asked casually with her hands planted on her hips.

Flora caught Bloom's confused expression "Bloom, do you know about this place?"

Bloom shook her head and continued watching her friends reactions, the tour group had been led away by the tour guide but the girls didn't mind. Flora smiled simply and took Bloom by the hand "Come on, I'll show you" Flora led Bloom and her friends deep into the battlefield; it looked like there were some torn down burned buildings here and there with also some old fences too. Even more disturbing was the stones that sprung up from the ground that served as graves, as Bloom passed she read them:

LUKA 0267-0301,

JAMES 0252-0301,

FLORANCE 0281-0301 and so on...

Flora led Bloom over to a large stone that was flat on top and only up to her knee, the width was about the size of a person. On top of that flat stone was another black stone, like marble. Craved into the stone was writing. Bloom was still confused; she looked down at her friends questioningly. Stella and Techna sat on the edge of the first stone while Musa stood a few metres away still looking at Graves, Layla was looking at the black stone and Flora had wandered just to the side to look at a single grave, she spoke as she looked down "Have you ever heard the legend of the first war of Magix?"

"No" Bloom replied wondering why everyone was either blown away, serious or sad.

Techna stood up and gave Bloom a smile "Okay. In the beginning Magix wasn't all one big universe with many planets, it was just one land, one planet. Try to imagine all the planets you know today bunched up into one to create one big home" Techna paused to let that sink in, Bloom's heard was already starting to whirl "Now picture a world where magic is a frightening power, where the people were scared to use it because they didn't know what it could do. Keep in mind this was at the beginning of Magix and they didn't know any other way, it was just that they hadn't learned that magic could be good. They spent the first three hundred years like this, living in fear of magic. Unlike today they didn't use it for every single thing they only used it if they're life depended on it and anyone who was naturally gifted with magic was shunned or...put to death" Bloom gulped and took a breath, she couldn't imagine not using magic. Even though she used to live in a world without magic she still couldn't do it.

Layla continued on for her "So you could imagine that creatures like trolls and pixies and any of that were basically hunted down and destroyed, in the history books it doesn't really mention it but everyone knows that's what happened"

Bloom was hesitant to ask "So how did they fix it? Where were all the witches and fairies?"

This time it was Stella who spoke in her usual cheery voice "Oh there were none because in that time magic wasn't in everyone, just only a few. But then in the year three hundred and one, three magical beings rose up from the darkness and cast an evil spell on the land, their purpose was to bring all the magic in the world to them so they could wield it. Then instead of the royal family being in control they would be the new rules of the land, they would never grow old, they would never be hurt and no matter what they would always be all powerful"

Bloom was stunned "Who were they?"

"You know them. The Trix's ancestors, the ancestral witches" Musa sneered at the name and looked distastefully away.

"Whoa, really?" Bloom exclaimed, really getting into the story. Evil Bloom beside her simply sat on the rock with her mouth hanging open "So they did this? They took all the magic and gave it to themselves?"

"Well not really" Techna replied thoughtfully "They were stopped, the leaders of the land got together and decided that no matter how much they feared magic it would be better for everyone to have it instead of it all going to three evil people"

"So they cast an awesome spell" Musa continued for her, using a dramatic voice "When the witches summoned up their forces to help cats the spell the good guys used what little magic they had left to reverse the spell and give magic to everyone, this is how fairies were created"

"But unfortunately" Layla said in a sad voice "The spell still didn't work all the way, the ancestral witches still got their sort of immortality and they still got their bad magic put into them. But there was a good side to this, that bad magic was also divided to their troops and followers aswell. So the good guys and the bad guys went off with the good and bad power in their veins and do you know what they were called after they got their power?"

Bloom shook her head with wide eyes.

"Good guys became fairies and bad guys became witches" Flora answered with a smile.

Bloom looked up at the sky in wonder, trying to soak in all the information about Magix that she'd just learned "So how does a war come into this? How did all this happen?" She gestured to the battlefield.

"Well you have fairies and witches in the same place, what do you thinks going to happen?" Musa asked in an obvious voice.

Bloom was still blown away "How did you guys learn all this?"

Techna chuckled "In school of course!"

Stella laughed as well "Yeah, I wasn't the most hard working student but I still learned about the first war of Magix. This is our history; all of our ancestors were in this war"

"Even mine?" Bloom asked feeling a twinge of warmth at the idea of learning more about her heritage.

"Probably" Stella shrugged "That's why we were so shocked when we got off the ship, it was like walking into your grandparents house and seeing all the old photos of your parents and great grandparents. Pretty heavy stuff"

Evil Bloom poked Bloom in the leg to get her attention "Hey" She pointed to the black marble rock "What's that thing?"

Techna noticed Bloom look at the rock and bounced up with a smile "Oh! This is cool, come here and see this!" Techna dragged Bloom over to the stone and looked down at it. Bloom took a good look at the writing but couldn't read it, Techna smiled "This is the black marble stone that started it all, this is the stone that created all of the magic and spread it out to everyone. They can't move it from the ground from fear of breaking the spell"

Bloom looked down at it closely "What's it say?"

"Oh nobody knows" Musa replied as she skipped up next to Bloom "They've done all kinds of research and crap on it but nobody can figure out what it's supposed to say"

Techna looked sour "After all the advancements in technology it's unbelievable that they still can't work it out. There's supposed to be a huge prize to anyone who reads it and can prove what it says, many have spent their life agonizing over these markings"

Stella came up behind Techna and hugged her "Just promise me you're not going to do that, I need your precious brain to help me defeat my new enemy Mandy"

Musa shot up from where she was trying to read the stone with a huge smile "Oh I've heard all about Mandy! A little jealous are we Stella?"

"Shut up Musa, the only time I'll allow people to talk about Mandy in front of me is when they're suggesting how to get rid of her!" Stella yelled back, a glum expression on her face. Evil Bloom poked her head up and smiled evilly "I have some ideas that could-"

"Stay out of it!" Bloom yelled at herself. Techna, Layla, Musa and Stella all began to talk about the Mandy thing while evil Bloom laughed her head off at their suggestions, Bloom looked on exasperated. Until she heard a whisper from Flora "Hey Bloom, come here!"

Flora waved her over to the grave stone she was looking at before, FLORANCE 0281-0301. Bloom looked down at it with curiosity. Flora nudged her in the arm "Florance was my ancestor, she died here. She was my age"

Bloom looked sideways at Flora's smiling faraway expression with a twinge of dread, imagining what it would be like losing Flora at the age she was now. Flora continued on in a proud voice "Every child learns about Florance when they're little on my planet; she was a brave warrior with a heart of steel. She was the leader of this lands tribe, they always thought this land was sacred and they were right, the witches chose this spot to cast the spell because it had the most magical properties. Florance was the keeper and protector and fought with her life to stop the witches, she died a hero"

"You're lucky to know these things, I wish I could learn about my family" Bloom replied, taking Flora's warm hand in hers. She looked down at the grave once more "It's a lovely name"

Flora nodded and Bloom could tell she was near tears "Yes, I was named after her. Maybe when we can go to Alfea some time and try to look up your history too"

"I'd like that" Bloom smiled with happiness, the stuff she'd learned today would stay with her forever. It warmed her heart to know that after today she'd be a little less naive to the history of Magix. Bloom turned back to her friends who were now laughing and fighting over something Techna held "Hey Stella! What was your ancestor's part in the war?"

Stella detangled herself from her friends and walked over "Well my family was always royal; my father says that when the war happened my great great great, lots of greats, grandmother was a leader in the war. The only thing I really know about her was that she was brave, one of the most brave women back then"

Bloom nodded and smiled "Nice. What about you Techna?"

Techna was busy scrolling through her phone and didn't look up "Oh I don't really know, for some reason the history of my family was lost in the ages. Stella and Flora's ancestors were royalty back then so they're more remembered; I guess my family wasn't that involved"

"Mine too" Musa said as she jumped down from the rock "I don't know a damn thing about mine. Layla?"

Layla shrugged as she lied back on the rock to enjoy the sun "Not too sure either, I think they lived further away when the war happened. Live on the coasts and by the sea, my family has always been heavily connected with the ocean"

Layla didn't know but evil Bloom was lying down next to her, she crossed her legs and from somewhere pulled out sunglasses and put them on "Damn Bloom, It's too bad I had to use the only chance I had to send you back in time to get you back to your prom. Which you wasted anyway. I could have gone back and seen this war you know, too bad I could only time travel once" Deep regret and accusation dripped from every word, EB still held onto the grudge that Bloom had wasted the power of time travel for nothing.

Techna looked down at her phone to check the time and sighed "We should head back to the ship soon" With that the girls left the graveyard in silence, a heavy sort of feeling settling into them as they walked away from one of the most historically tragic sights in all of Magix. When the girls finished their tour and arrived back at the centre Techna as the first to stagger off the ship and practically kneel down and claw at a power point just inside the automatic door, Layla stepped up beside her quickly "Tech, what're you doing? We're in public you know, people are staring"

Techna didn't take any notice of the people who had been with them on the tour as they walked past her with curious looks; all of them probably thought the girls were insane by now. The centre wasn't as crowded as it had been that morning and the girls were grateful as they walked in and settled onto the couches just inside the door, tired from the journey. The only one with energy was Techna "I need to charge my phone! I think Timmy's been trying to call me since we were at the animal sight with the killer monkeys"

"Oh that was so funny!" Musa cried out happily as she sat down and crossed her legs "Especially the part where one of the monkeys tried to steal Stella's purse!"

Stella sat down across from her and glared "If you hadn't egged it on the damn flea bag would have never even tried it, and it got what it deserved!"

Flora stood beside her with a frown "I can't believe you hit that animal...it was so defenceless"

Stella scoffed and observed her expensive handbag for scratches "Nasty little demon!"

Bloom walked in the door with EB at her side the two had been in a good mood since the battlefield, the prospect of knowing her only family line was a happy thought and evil Bloom had gotten a laugh out of the monkey attack, in truth the reason the monkey had tried to steal Stella's purse was because evil Bloom had stolen it's banana but nobody knew that. Bloom walked with her hands in her pockets and stopped next to Techna who was scrolling through her phone "Ah ha! He did call, about three times" She looked curious "Wonder if everything's okay" She placed the phone to her ear and waited. Bloom stood next to her and watched with a growing smile as Flora, Stella and Musa all started verbally battling each other while Layla tried to calm them down while anxiously looking at all the people who were all looking at them curiously as they passed "Hello Timmy?" Techna began "Is something wrong?" A moment passed and Techna got an odd look on her face "Really?"

The girls at the couch heard the strange tone of voice and all stopped to listen in to the one sided conversation "Right now? But why would they...oh I suppose that makes sense. Did you want us to go home by ourselves?...Come with you? We're invited?" The girls quickly stood up, sensing the excitement in their friends voice, they stood around her "That's great, I can show them all where I work!...Okay then...see you soon" She hung up the phone and looked at her friends "You'll never believe it"

"What?" The five Winx girls and evil Bloom asked in unison.

"The guys finished their mission and they got a call from headquarters, they've been called in for a meeting, some kind of informative session that is being held for all the specialists and important people of Magix. The council will even be there, we'll be meeting the guys there. The ship is also waiting for us"

"We have a council? What is this, star wars?" Evil Bloom asked but nobody heard her. Bloom stepped forward and asked "What's headquarters?"

"Wow this is really a day of learning for you isn't it?" Layla said, taking Bloom by the arm and gently leading the group toward another loading bay of ships, they spoke as they walked quickly out onto the deck, the wind blowing slightly more forcefully than it had earlier "Headquarters is more formally known as M.I.H.Q"

"That's where I work" Techna added in as she watched Stella speak to a nearby pilot "Actually it's in the city just outside of Alfea, I'm surprised you've never run into it"

Bloom suddenly thought of what evil Bloom had told her about where all the kings had been going for secret meetings and wondered if this was the same place; a glance at the girl told her she was thinking the same thing. The girls kept walking as Layla spoke "It's kind of the place where everything is decided, like a government building except the planets don't run on governments, they're ruled by monarchy of kings and queens; the headquarters is the place where all the leaders meet to discuss things. It's where all Red Fountain guys and Magix representatives go to receive orders for missions and stuff, Alfea gets it's funding from them and it's where all the royals go to have meetings and draw up peace agreements. A lot of peace treaties have been forged inside those walls, if Magix was ruled by one person, that's where they'd hang out" By the end of the speech Bloom was pretty sure that was the place EB had seen Sky's father, she felt a sudden need for more answers.

The girls boarded the ship and strapped themselves in "What does the council do?"

Stella turned with a smile to her "When the pesky royal families can't make up their minds or agree on anything the issue, whatever it is, is put before the council to settle it. They're like second in charge of all of Magix; they're the only ones who could possibly have power over any royal family" Bloom felt a chill go through her and she thought of a bunch of old people with cold eyes staring down at her "The whole thing sounds eerie"

Musa beside her chuckled as the hatched to the ship closed and locked them in "You remember that guy Lucus? Who do you think he works for?"

Bloom looked straight ahead and breathed deeply, reminding herself that soon she'd be queen of Eraklyon and she wouldn't have to fear evil men like Lucus ever again.

...

When the ship landed in the city Bloom walked from the ship and was pleasantly surprised to find the guys waiting for them, dressed in their trademark blue and white specialist suits, Stella and Musa walked beside her and she heard Stella whisper "I'd forgotten how tight those uniforms were"

Bloom fought off a smile as she approached her husband who quickly ran forward and swept her off her feet, spinning her in a circle, a laugh escaped Bloom as he set her down "Now that wasn't so hard was it? Being away from me"

Bloom sighed and leaned against him "It was hard, it's been so long since we've been a part"

Sky smiled down at her "You look different somehow"

Bloom shrugged her shoulders "I probably am. Oh you have no the stuff I've learned today, about Magix and about everything, I didn't realise I was so out of the loop!"

"Well don't worry, you in it now. You'll have to tell me about it"

Bloom closed her eyes and shook her head with a smile "Hmm later" Bloom reached up and pressed a deep kiss to his lips, she would have enjoyed it more if evil Bloom hadn't called from the door of the ship "Let me know when you're done, I want to kiss him too!"

Later when the group was dropped off at headquarters did Bloom finally confirm her suspicions, the building was huge, standing tall and straight into the sky like a beacon. The whole thing was modern and made of steel and mirrors; the world was reflected back at Bloom as they walked toward the doors. The sun shown down on everything, the building was surrounded by a vast garden of green hedges and stone pathways. People mulled on benches outside while hover cars guided down the streets soundlessly. Bloom noticed people look up and stare at them, she also saw a van parked slightly down the street drive a bit closer, after a moment one of the front windows slid down and the end of a camera appeared. Bloom sighed and looked away to hide her face, the media would always follow them wherever they went these days. Evil Bloom floated next to her and whispered quickly "This is the place! This is where the meeting with Sky's dad was held, I can't enter any of the meeting rooms" This fact annoyed Bloom because she knew she couldn't send her spy in to get all the news, as much as Sky loved her she knew there were some things he thought she didn't need to know. Bloom looked up at the building with wide eyes, intimidated by the sheer size and power of a single building. Behind her Sky wrapped both arms around her "They call it the palace of mirrors, not just for the outer appearance but for the idea that no matter how hard an enemy tries, they'll never see the other side of those walls"

"The place is locked up like a safe" Brandon remarked as he also looked up at the tall building, beside him Stella was ruffling through her bag and reapplying lipstick without listening "You have to go through three checkpoints to just get into the main foyer"

Bloom looked behind him and noticed Timmy and Techna standing side by side, both gazing up with equal expressions of pride as if they had been the ones to create the towering structure, Bloom could hear the joy in Timmy's voice "They say it's Magix most fine structure, when the war broke out the whole thing was put in lockdown, it was the only building still standing when the smoke cleared" He sighed happily "Not even a scratch"

"Can we go?" Riven demanded, startling Bloom as he was on her other side without her knowing "You guys can stand here all day like a bunch of tourists but I'm going inside" In the past Riven would have just walked off on his own but this time before he stormed off he reached back and took Musa's hand without looking back and made his way with her in surprised tow, it made Bloom smile a bit knowing that they'd gotten to a good point in their relationship where they didn't like to be away from each other when they didn't need to be.

The group continued inside, true to the rumour they actually did have to go through three levels of security just to get in. Bloom found it was even more impossibly big inside, people dressed in business like suits walked with purpose in all directions, statues lined the walls and there was a giant fountain smack in the middle in the foyer. Stella skipped ahead with a small smile to get closer to the fountain, she paused to take Bloom's hand and drag her over to the edge "You know when I was little I always dreamed of getting married in a place like this, of course this was when I hadn't really discovered the joy of an outside sunlit reception" Bloom looked up at the multiple chandeliers and smiled, Stella sat down on the edge of the fountain and looked into the water "But I changed my mind when I found out that they execute criminals here" Bloom went from smiling to frowning, Stella laughed at her expression. Bloom thought back to when her and her friends were executed after all of Magix went to hell; she always felt a crippling fear when she remembered the steel cold axe at the back of their neck. All around her the group was settling in around the fountain, Techna and Timmy were showing Layla and Nabu around the room like a teacher would show a student, Riven and Musa had gone on ahead over to an information desk to presumably find out where the meeting would be held and Flora, Helia and Sky had wandered over to her by the fountain.

"So what's this meeting about?" Flora asked as she sat down next to Stella.

"Oh they have them all the time, being important members of society we're forced to attend, they're basically just updates on the realm. They've had a few of them since the war, I think it's their way of reassuring all the right people that things are really getting back to the way they should be" Sky answered as he took Bloom's hand.

"Have you guys been here lots of time?" Bloom asked as she looked around, none of the people matched the stylish young adult category.

Helia answered this time "A few. Back at Red Fountain my grandfather would always say that any person who was specifically invited to the palace of mirrors was either doing something right or something very wrong, frightened most of the trainees when we first started"

Sky chuckled beside her "Yeah, our first year and they took us all on a felid trip here; we were so young and intimidated. We were told that most of us would never see the inside of these walls again"

Stella looked bored and crossed her legs "Jeez, it's just a building"

Brandon smiled and put a hand on her shoulder "Oh come on babe, we're at the very authority centre of Magix, think of all that's been accomplished in these rooms"

Stella mumbled "They're still just rooms"

Bloom looked over and saw Riven and Musa approach "Come on, the meeting starts soon"

"Great" Layla replied as the other group joined them "Where is it?"

"Upstairs, we'll probably only be twenty minutes" Riven answered as he turned to walk toward a glass elevator across the foyer. Stella rolled her eyes before standing "Oh gods, I hope it's not going to be boring, I didn't come on this little trip to do business you know, I get enough of that at home"

"Come on Stella, it won't be that bad" Flora soothes her as the group walked "It'll probably be exciting" Stella gave her a look but continued walking. When the group got to the elevator Bloom looked beside her to see evil Bloom looking nervous, she caught the girls eye and gave her a questioning look.

Evil Bloom shrugged "I don't like it in here, they have barriers to keep me from entering certain rooms, I don't know when I'm suddenly going to hit a wall" Bloom gave her a sympathetic look. The doors to the elevator opened then and the thirteen on them were surprised to see none other than Miss Faragonda standing in the small box, she smiled at them "I heard you had been invited to the meeting so I thought I'd come and greet you" She stepped back and made room for them.

"Miss F!" Stella beamed as she came out of her sour mood abruptly; she stepped forward and embraced the woman in purple. Musa entered the elevator next and smiled at the woman over Stella's shoulder "Sup Miss F?"

"Hello dears" The woman said as they all packed in, evil Bloom made it sort of uncomfortable when something would brush past them and they didn't see who it was. Bloom was stuffed into the back of the elevator with Sky next to her still holding her hand, she was next to Miss F who asked "I've been meaning to call in on you two" She gestured to her and Sky "See how married life is treating you, how you're settling in"

Bloom smiled and replied "It's great" Small lie, Sky's mother was driving her crazy "Eraklyon is wonderful, feels like home. I love it" Beside her Sky cleared his throat and Bloom looked up at him "Don't worry, I love you just as much"

"What're you doing here Miss Faragonda?" Techna asked somewhere from the front of the elevator where Bloom couldn't see.

"Oh didn't you know?" Miss F looked toward Techna and smiled "I'm on the council now" There was immediate gasps and congratulating from everyone, Bloom felt a small relief that the people she'd imagined before on the council would be like Miss F "After everything happened the good people of Magix thought they could use someone like me speaking for them, I was worried that it might interfere with my work at Alfea but they were nice to me and said I only had to come in on Sundays"

"I love Sundays" Stella sighed on Sky's other side.

Musa peeked over Techna's shoulder to address her old headmistress "This is mine, Bloom and Flora's first time here, before today Bloom didn't even know this place existed, any tips just so we don't accidently do something bad and start something?"

"That's probably a good idea" Evil Bloom mumbled as she smiled at the floor, Bloom had the urge to kick her.

Miss Faragonda thought for a moment "Stay out of trouble, don't get into any fights" This she directed at Musa and Stella who pretended not to notice "And perhaps peek in on the library"

"You are such a teacher" Stella mumbled as the doors to the elevator opened. The group piled out and found themselves in a long corridor with multiple doors, at the end was two double doors them gave off a slight glow. Miss F laughed and looked over at the girls "I only suggested it because I know you can't go into the library at Alfea anymore"

Bloom thought of wanting to check out her family line at that very library and felt a sting of dread "Why not?"

"Because the librarian has banned all six of you"

Musa snickered "Oh yeah we kind of trashed the place a few times there" She laughed again but went blank when she caught Miss F's pointed look of disapproval.

Miss F sighed and turned her gaze on the guys who had remained silent for the duration of the elevator ride in respect for the girls reunion with their headmistress "Oh boys I am glad I've got this chance to talk to you, Professor Saladin wanted me to tell Helia, Brandon Timmy and Riven what a wonderful job you're doing on the teacher/student program" Miss F then looked at Sky and Nabu "And he also said he's very very proud of you two gentlemen and the kings you've become. He looks forward to catching up with you all"

The guys didn't really know what to say so they just nodded and smiled, the group walked down the hall toward the double doors that were open as many other people were crowding into, Miss F fell back to walk beside Bloom "Is this really the first you've heard of M.I.H.Q?"

Bloom was hesitant to talk about her lack of knowledge and lowered her voice "I haven't really gotten up to speed with Magix just yet, I'm still learning. Too busy saving it to learn about it" Miss F didn't say anything but nodded. When the girls walked through the doors Bloom and Miss F were the last to enter, Bloom paused when she heard someone whistle behind her. Glancing back she saw Evil Bloom looking cross at the threshold "I can't come in! Promise to tell me everything later...or maybe just the interesting stuff, okay?"

Bloom nodded and turned to catch up with the group. The room was gigantic, like the rest of the building. There were no windows and the room was four stories high like a gym, seats with red cushions set up to face a podium with various tables at the front, a giant screen hung over head. Most of the seats were filling up with people Bloom didn't recognise, some she did as other princes and princess, kings and queens and other figures of authority all around Magix. Some people turned to look at the group as they made their way up to their assigned seats in the middle area, Bloom saw Miss F break away and walk casually down to the front where a long table had been set up behind the podium, she took a seat with eight other serious looking people. Bloom was about to move along the row and sit down when in front of her Stella suddenly froze and stared toward the front "Oh Gods give us strength"

For a moment Bloom thought she might have seen her 'sick' father but when Bloom and the others looked and saw what she saw they all tried not to groan too loudly. Representative of Magix and the girls personal enemy Lucus had just strolled in the door and was making his way down to the front, something inside Bloom hunched over and snarled, bringing old feelings back into her mind. The feeling of a long sword in her hand as she stabbed something, to punch someone and hear the satisfying break of the nose or to look at someone and know you've scared the living crap out of them.

"Oh no it's him" Flora moaned as she rested her head on Helia's arm.

"I've been working here for months, I haven't seen him here before" Timmy whispered to Techna as she remained silent.

"Do you think he's seen us yet?" Layla asked Nabu who looked serious; he shook his head "I think we'd know if he had"

"Should we leave and not tempt fate?" Flora asked timidly as she look down at the man again who was to everyone's horror settling down into one of the council chairs near Miss F.

"Oh and he's on the council!" Riven snarled as he glared, beside him Musa glared with equal ferocity "I seriously want to throw my chair at him"

"Okay guys, people can kind of hear us" Sky said quickly and quietly, Bloom looked around and saw five or six people looking back at them with expressions of shock, suspicion and fear "Let's just sit down"

The twelve of them sat down in their seats and tried not to draw Lucus's eye to them, Bloom thought for a moment before smiling and laughing, Sky looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she laughed again "I was just thinking I'm really glad and really disappointed that EB's not here to see him right now, can you imagine what she'd do?"

"I can't but I'm very curious, maybe when we're leaving?" Sky and Bloom laughed quietly to each other before everyone went quiet and the meeting started.


	5. Peace Time

Chapter Five: Peace Time

The meeting only went on for half an hour, it wasn't boring as Stella thought it would be but it wasn't overly exciting either. At first Bloom couldn't really concentrate on what was going on because she was too busy glaring daggers at Lucus at the front but when the speaker, a middle aged man with glasses, started speaking and showing images on the tall screen overhead she tuned in. It was all very confusing at first and Bloom tried to keep up with what he was trying to get across, he seemed to be talking about an interesting increase in magical flares across the universe over the past few weeks, it seemed that the man and his team were pretty concerned about the damage these occurrences were having on the magical layer. Bloom didn't know what that was but it seemed everyone else did and it looked like some people were concerned too, some people brushed it off getting up and saying that they'd go away soon. When Bloom looked over at Timmy and Techna it looked like they didn't share that opinion, a concerned look marked their faces and Bloom wished she knew what was going on. When the meeting finished she could hear people whispering about it on their way out, Bloom listened in but found no new information. When they exited the meeting room the guys led the girls off down a less crowded corridor. Bloom saw evil Bloom appear with an alert expression "Well? Anything massive happen?"

Bloom contemplated telling her about the flares but she knew she wouldn't be interested, she also knew it was in everyone's best interest if EB didn't know Lucus was only fifty metres away. So she shook her head and smiled "Nothing really, you would have been bored"

"So what now?" Stella asked as she pulled out her phone and checked the time "We still have two hours before dinner"

"We have to go and report on our mission, the usual stuff" Nabu answered as they continued to walk and found themselves in a small lounge room with a reception desk, Bloom recognised the symbol of Red Fountain on the front of the desk.

Brandon kissed Stella on the forehead quickly "We'll be back in ten"

After the guys left the girls settled onto the couches, the lady at the reception desk recognised them and decided to be overly helpful, offering them drinks and even bowing to Stella, Layla and to her surprise Bloom as well. Even called her 'your majesty', Bloom smiled at the girl and accepted the orange juice she'd asked for. Bloom sat thinking for a while before turning to Techna next to her who was on her phone looking up a new videogame that had just come out "Hey Tech, what's the magical layer?"

Techna glanced up at her and didn't bother giving her the usual 'you don't know' look but instead smiled and took out a notepad from her bad and a pen "Okay you know how we have different realms like Earth, Magix and others ones. Well imagine Magix as a round realm shaped like a circle and then imagine that realm surrounded by another circle, that circle is what we call the magical layer, it holds all the magic in our world. Places like Earth don't have magic because it doesn't have that bubble of magic surrounding it, it actually relates back to what we talked about today. Back with the marble stone and the ancestral witches, the spell that created all equal magic also created this bubble"

Bloom nodded and added this piece of information to her library of knowledge that she stored up about Magix, evil Bloom leaned over the back of the couch "Ask her why magical beings can still use magic outside the bubble"

Bloom asked and Techna replied "Because remnants of the bubble stay with us, it's not just a force field keeping the magic in it's like a spell that overtakes everyone and stays with them, no matter what"

"But if the spell was cast thousands of years ago, how can it possibly still keep going, don't all spells wear off eventually?"

Techna shrugged "Why is my hair pink and why is rainbow ice cream the best flavour? The answer, it just is"

"Wow, you mean there something that Techna doesn't feel the need to research the hell out of to find the how's and why's of?" Musa asked from the floor where she sat drinking cola.

Techna scowled at her "Some things just are, that's the way of the universe"

Stella turned to her with a curious look "Do you think the layer can be damaged or anything? Should we really be worried about these magical flares in space?"

Techna paused before answering "I'm not sure, I wouldn't ignore these things but I don't really see what action we can take to stop them. I suppose we just have to see what happens"

Bloom took another deep sip of juice and rested her head back on the couch to stare at the ceiling, she wondered about the flares and the magical layer, She remembered the terrible dreams she'd been having, she thought about the historical war that had taken place thousands of years ago and she thought about how peaceful the world seemed today. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't been waiting for some other evil to come and destroy all their happiness but it hadn't happened. Stella must have seen the look on her face because she got up from her place and leaned down to whisper to Bloom "I know you've been on edge lately and I'm here to tell you to relax. Honestly all that drama with Valtor and saving the world every other day is done, now is peace time, let's enjoy it"

When Stella walked away Bloom had a sudden memory pop up in her head. She hadn't thought of it for years but now she did and it still felt like a blow to the chest. It had been when the girls had worked for Valtor; he had been their teacher and leader. It was one night when Bloom had just finished a mission on her own when she met up with Valtor in the city, they'd driven back home in the dark and it had been one of those rare times when he and her were really alone. She didn't know why she'd asked him but she did.

"_Do you think peace is real?"_

_He'd looked at her with a strange expression and smiled__"There is no such thing as peace, only the illusion of safety the people imagine for themselves so they can think there's no danger in the world, that there's nothing coming for them in the night. Lets me tell you something Bloom...something dark is always coming"_

Bloom took a deep breath and pushed the memory away.

...

It was the same as every other night; the fire consumed her, burning her skin to a raw crisp. Tonight the nightmare was more vivid than any other time and even though Bloom was conscious of being in a dream she couldn't wake herself up, so she was thankful when there came a loud pounding from somewhere. Bloom snapped awake suddenly, she was on her side with the covers wrapped around her, her body angling toward the edge of the bed. Looking back she saw Sky sit up behind her, his blond hair ruffled from sleep, her own was still damp from the nightmare. There came the pounding again and Bloom, after a confused moment, noted that someone was at the door. Bloom heard Lady the dog shuffle out of the bathroom tiredly and start to growl at the double doors across the room, Bloom didn't want the animal barking so late at night so she quickly whispered "Lady, ssshh girl" Sky groaned tiredly and pulled himself out of bed and walked quickly toward the door, being more awake from the nightmare than he was Bloom took the opportunity to try and get her breathing and heartbeat under control, breath out the nightmare. She could still feel the intense heat on her skin and wished she had some ice water, or a pool. Sky opened the door and found one of his guards standing timidly on the other side trying to not look worried; Sky sighed and rubbed his right eye while saying "Frank, its 3am"

Frank bowed with wide eyes and mumbled "My deepest apologies your majesty but the messenger said it was important" He held out a piece of paper that was bound with a red mark on the back, Sky's expression got a tad more serious, he nodded and replied "Thank you, goodnight Frank"

"My king" The man bowed before Sky closed the door again; Bloom sat up in bed and turned on a nearby lamp. Sky opened the letter quickly and read silently until he got an annoyed look on his face and rolled his eyes.

"What is it?" Bloom asked as she watched him turn toward the fireplace on the other side of the room, he surprised her when he threw the letter into the flames "Sky?"

Sky looked his usual casual self as he strolled back over to the bed "You won't believe it, it's from M.I.H.Q, they want me to come over in the morning"

"So they sent a letter? Haven't they ever heard of a phone?" Bloom was confused at the news, surely if they wanted to chat with Sky they could have done earlier that day when they were there with the group. After leaving the palace of mirrors the group had gone to dinner where many laughs had been shared and they'd all eaten until they were full, as it stood Bloom and Sky had only gotten two hours sleep until the rude awakening "Did they say what they wanted?"

Sky crawled back into bed and flopped down with obvious tiredness; he closed his eyes and spoke "Just another 'urgent' meeting"

"Why didn't they just call?" Bloom reached out and smoothed some of the blond locks away from his face.

Sky shrugged one shoulder "It means that they didn't want anyone listening in, those people are obsessed with security, they told me I should destroy the letter and not tell anyone of its contents"

Bloom paused for a moment "But you're telling me"

"You're not anyone, you're my wife" Sky always took every opportunity to remind her of that; it always gave him this pleased little smile. Bloom chuckled and leaned down to reward him with a kiss before turning out the light again and settling in for more well needed sleep. It was only thirty seconds later that Bloom's cell phone started to ring with insistence, Bloom tensed at the sound and next to her Sky groaned again. Bloom sighed heavily as she reached out a hand and captured the object in her palm and expertly pressed the answer button without looking; she held it to her ear.

"Whoever this is you had better hope what you're about to tell me makes up for keeping me and my husband awake"

After a long pause "You're right, I shouldn't have called" Techna's hesitant voice rang through the phone.

"Techna?" Bloom lifted her face out of the pillow and sat up again in the dark, as she spoke Lady came out of the bathroom again and decided to be a total dog and jump up at the foot of the bed and settle in "Why are you calling so late, we just said goodbye hours ago?"

"I know, I'm sorry but it was the only way I was going to get a hold of both of you"

"What's up Tech?"

"Did Sky just get a message from somewhere?" Her voice was secretive.

"Well so much for secrecy" Bloom mumbled "Yeah he got one"

"So did Timmy, and I just got a text from Musa and layla, all the guys have got one, what do you think is so important that they have to all be there? Why couldn't they just handle it earlier today?"

Bloom sighed and crossed her feet under the covers "I have an idea, because maybe they didn't want the guys to bring their girlfriends along, maybe their actively trying to keep it from us"

Bloom had been kidding but Techna suddenly yelled "Yes that could be it!" Bloom wished she hadn't said it "Something about this situation doesn't add up"

"Techna, I know you like to know everything but with this attitude you've got going on is going to start something, that's what happens when we stick our nose where it doesn't belong"

"Don't worry, it's not like we're going to follow the guys and spy on them"

_No, _Bloom thought, _but that's not going to stop EB from going with them without anyone noticing. _

...

Sky left in the morning and Bloom was able to have breakfast on her own, of course Erendor and Samara both made their excuses about why they couldn't come. Bloom sat at a wooden table that was situated on a golden balcony filled with red roses that overlooked the kingdom, blue skies and golden sunlight shone down. Bloom still wore her white satin nightgown with a cream coloured dressing gown with black flowers sewn into it, she was happy with her morning because no classes for Sky meant no classes for her. When she was sure she was alone Bloom whispered "Bloom!" into the air and waited, it didn't take long for the girl to appear on the other side of the table in a cream coloured dress that flared out with cap sleeves, she also had black flowers on it with a black bow in her hair.

"Morning roomie!" Evil Bloom picked up a chocolate cookie and started to nibble at it while she spoke "Hey was there someone here last night, I could have sworn I heard Lady growl" Bloom was always astounded at how attuned to that animal EB was "And then a guy was walking away from the direction of your room"

Bloom smiled and nodded, thankful that even to this day evil Bloom still kept her promise to NEVER enter Bloom and Sky's bedroom, it made for a lot less awkward situations "Yeah, Sky got a letter from M.I.H.Q, they wanted him to come in this morning for a secret meeting"

"Haven't they heard of using the phone?" Evil Bloom mumbled as she poured herself some tea, cookie clutched between her teeth "You know I'm getting pretty suspicious of all these secret meetings that place is having, I wonder if Sky's dad is there aswell, and Stella's dad. Maybe it's just a guy thing, a secret men's club"

Bloom smiled at the idea and bite into her toast again "Well all the Specialists are going, so I was wondering if maybe...?"

"Yeah I'll follow them" The girl muttered as she herself buttered some toast "Just let me finish breakfast, okay? I'm busy enough as it is, I mean I've got lives to ruin all over the realm and you've got me following our husband-"

"My husband"

"-all over the place like some little puppy, a girl could use some reward or some praise don't you think?"

Bloom leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms "What do you want for your trouble?"

For once evil Bloom looked shy; she looked innocently hesitant as she spoke "Well I was thinking...do you think it would be okay if I brought boys home?"

"Get out!" Bloom yelled as she chocked on her toast "Why would you bring boys home, you're invisible! Guys can't even see you or hear you, how could you possibly meet someone?"

Evil Bloom looked glum "I could meet people! Okay I'm a ghost and people can't see me but I'm still a girl and girls like to meet boys! It's unfair that you get to have all the fun!"

Bloom pinched the bridge of her nose "I can't believe we're talking about this"

"You try spending a lifetime with people looking through you, never seeing you. I'm evil but even evil people have someone they have a crush on, look at Valtor with you!"

Bloom gasped and looked around to see if anyone heard, even though she knew they couldn't hear EB "Don't say things like that, it's creepy. And you know, more than anyone, nothing ever happened between me and him. I was his favourite but I never felt the same way" Bloom paused "Or you didn't, remember you were in control at that time"

Evil Bloom rested an elbow on the table with her face planted on her hand "You don't know what it's like for me, sure you think I'm happy all the time with my pranks and my jokes but it really sucks when no one can see you, just once I'd like for a cute guy to be able to look into my eyes and see me. You've got Sky, the guy we've always wanted but who does that leave for me?"

Bloom felt guilt run through her "You're lonely"

EB tucked a stray strand of red hair behind her ear "I've got to go"

"EB" Bloom replied quickly, knowing the girl was going to disappear and didn't want to leave it like that.

Evil Bloom stood up and smiled "I'll see you later"

With that she was gone, Bloom sighed and thought over what the girl had said, she'd never really thought of evil Bloom as lonely before, if she imagined herself in her shoes she guessed she'd be lonely too. A girl came out and started to clear away the girl's unfinished toast and tea, Bloom took the opportunity to ask her "Hey Claire, I was wondering...can anything damage the magical layer? Weaken it somehow?"

Annie was an older girl of about thirty, she had blond hair with green eyes, Bloom had spoken to her a number of times and found she liked the girl. Annie turned to her and smiled "Not that I know of your majesty, it's been there for as long as anyone can remember, for all that time nothings even come close to hurting it" She came forward and patted Bloom on the shoulder "Don't worry my lady, some spells are forever"

Bloom nodded and thanked her, when the girl turned to leave she quickly turned back around and handed Bloom the paper "It was late today but here it is"

Bloom took the paper and opened it, on instruction from Samara she was to keep up with Magix political standing at all times to discuss at dinner parties and stuff, opening the paper Bloom almost bashed her head into the table in frustration. The words 'WINX AND SEPCIALISTS VISIT TO HEADQUARTERS, SECRET MISSION OR ARE THEY BACK TO THEIR OLD WAYS?' and there in full colour was a picture of all twelve of them yesterday standing in front of the Palace of Mirrors.

"Hell on Earth!" Bloom slammed down the paper and got up quickly, determined to hide the paper from Sky's parents, she walked back inside and down the stairs toward the inner hallway "Annie, I need a...fa...vour-" A sudden and unexpected feeling came over Bloom, her skin started to heat up like an angry flame and her vision started to blur dramatically. She gripped the banister of the stairs and tried not to fall over, the world tilted on its side until everything looked messed up and upside down, Bloom was aware that her knees had touched the carpeted stairs and she was leaning over. When the feeling cleared Bloom was left feeling rundown and tired, her eyes wouldn't stay open for very long and her body fought for consciousness. She was able to crawl down the last few stairs and reach a door she knew leaded into a music room; she stumbled in and set her sights on a couch near the piano. Lying down she closed her eyes and ignored the uncomfortable couch and went straight to sleep.

Bloom dreamed of fire again, this time it was inside her body under her skin, boiling over like a kettle but the skin on the outside stayed toasty warm instead of overheating. There was no darkness this time but there was still the roar of a dragon in the distance, if Bloom tried hard enough she could almost hear water running and feel wind blow past her. When she woke it was to a maid coming into the room to dust the instruments, she spotted Bloom lying on the couch and apologised profusely, Bloom assured her it was alright and stood up to slowly exit the room with newfound energy. When the door closed and Bloom stood in the empty hallway she had a new feeling in her stomach, like a heavy stone of dread was weighing her down. It was then that Bloom resolved to get this fire dream thing looked into, after a quick trip upstairs to her room to change Bloom was on her way to the loading dock where her own private ship waited to take her anywhere she wished to go. Bloom felt familiarity as she told the pilot to take her to Linphea, to the city where Flora and Helia lived together. Just to be sure she wouldn't be interrupting she called Flora during the quick flight.

"Bloom! Hello, I didn't expect to hear from you so soon, are you calling about that meeting that Helia went to this morning? Strange isn't it?"

"No Flora I haven't called about that, this is for something else, I was wondering if we could meet for lunch" Bloom checked her watch and found it was already well into the day after her abrupt sleep "If it's okay with you? I need to talk to you about something"

Flora sounded concerned "Of course, tell them to take you to the rose garden, it's a lovely place in the city where they make the best salad you've ever tasted"

"Okay see you there" Bloom hung up the phone and tried to reassure herself that she was doing the right thing by telling Flora about her dreams, what could go wrong?

...

"You fainted?!" Flora wailed as the two girls walked along a wavy path of dirt that circled the edge of a cast forest, the city was just like Bloom pictured it, not too crowded but pretty full, there were buildings and houses but nothing technological and of course there were flowers EVERYWHERE, Bloom was sure she was getting hay fever from them. Bloom had told Flora about the dreams and the girl seemed to take the news pretty well until Bloom told her about that morning with the sudden sleep thing.

"I didn't faint, I was just very tired all of a sudden" Bloom defended herself, not wanting to make too big a deal out of it.

Flora was wearing a pretty baby blue dress with pink bows and flowers lining it, her hair was swept up into a bow and Bloom thought she looked like Alice in wonderland, the girl was worried "Bloom these dreams you've been having aren't really normal, being burned alive in your sleep is not something you should have to live with...maybe you should see someone"

"I am not going to a shrink Flora" Bloom interjected before the idea could be spoken fully "I'm not crazy"

"But I think you need to talk to someone" Flora replied, her eyes wide with concern.

"I'm talking to you!"

"It's not the same!"

Bloom sighed and hung her head "I should have gone to Musa, she wouldn't have sent me to a shrink" She mumbled as they kept walking, the cafe 'The Rose Garden' was in the distance. Flora slowed her step and stopped walking altogether.

"If you're not gonna talk to somebody can you at least have someone check you over, like a doctor. I'm worried Bloom, I need to know you're healthy and happy" Flora took Bloom's hand and gave her the most pleading look Bloom had ever seen.

Rolling her eyes Bloom threw her hands in the air "Fine!"

"Great, come on!" Flora pulled Bloom away from the cafe and toward a long street of busy shops.

"What about lunch?"

"Nope, after!"

...

After the most strenuous and thorough medical check up Bloom had ever had it was concluded that apart from high levels of stress there was physically nothing wrong with her. Flora had taken Bloom to her family doctor and the woman had been surprisingly gushy for a doctor, all happy and talkative. It didn't exactly make Bloom feel better about the whole thing, Flora stood off in the corner the whole time keeping a critical eye on Bloom. It seemed she was determined to have all the answers and be completely sure that nothing was medically wrong with her. So after a lot of questions, a scan, a blood test, and personal inquiries and even to Bloom's horror a pregnancy test, all came back fine. When they left the room and came out into the waiting area where other people waited with anxious expressions Bloom turned to Flora with a superior look "See, nothing wrong"

"That means it's all in your head!" Flora yelled suddenly, startling Bloom and everyone there. Flora took Bloom by the wrist and started to drag her from the clinic "I told you it was metal, if there's nothing medically wrong with you then it has to be with your state of mind"

"Flora I think you're going a little far with this" Bloom tried to sooth the girl but she wouldn't listen. They were near the door now and Bloom tugged the girl to a stop "Please don't freak out over me"

Flora looked at her with a sad expression mixed with worry and determination "Bloom you were my first real friend and I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you or to any of the people I loved, I'm frightened all the time of what the future will hold. Nothing is for certain"

Bloom sighed and rubbed the girls arm with a smile "Flora, nothing's going to happen"

"How can you be...su..re...of..." Bloom watched with shock as Flora went from standing tall and sure to slumping against the all of the clinic with sudden tiredness, it occurred to her that this must have been what had happened to her and suddenly Bloom felt a cold feeling run through her.

"Flora?" Bloom grabbed hold of the girl as she slid into unconsciousness "Flora!" Flora was out cold now and Bloom thanked god they were in a doctor's clinic, Bloom called for help and in seconds nurses in white uniforms were running to get to them. Bloom watched with great fear as they brought Flora back inside to one of the examination rooms, since there was nothing obviously wrong with her Bloom was allowed to stay with her as they ran through all the checks they'd done on Bloom earlier. She held the girls hand and looked down at her peaceful face; to her it almost looked like she was sleeping. For a long time the doctors couldn't tell her anything, they assured her nothing was seriously wrong and that gave Bloom some piece of mind. After about twenty minutes of waiting Flora woke up, she yawned and rubbed her eyes and Bloom wanted to strangle her for it.

"Are you okay?!" Bloom yelled as she leaned over her.

Flora looked tired and confused "What happened?"

"You fainted" Bloom stated with some satisfaction, the shoe was on the other foot now.

Flora blinked at her "Really? How long was I out?"

Bloom checked her watch "Twenty one minutes and thirty six hellish seconds! Flora, you need to take care of yourself, stop worrying about others"

Flora sighed and pulled herself up on the bed to stretch "That didn't really feel like a faint, you know? Sorry for scaring you, I'm okay now"

Bloom was unconvinced "Did you sleep? Have you been having dreams?"

Flora rolled her eyes "Everyone dreams Bloom, and yes but not like yours. I dream of the same thing I always dream of, flowers and forests" Bloom was about to reply when Flora's phone started to ring, Bloom snatched it of the bedside table where the doctors had put it and looked at the screen "It's Helia"

Flora's eyes went wide and she pointed a finger at Bloom "You do not tell him anything!"

Bloom answered and put on a smile "Hi Helia, this is Bloom. Flora's just in the bathroom right now, would you like to wait or...?"

"Oh hello Bloom, what're you doing with Flora?" Helia asked through the phone in a naturally courteous voice.

"Oh you know, having lunch, sharing stories" Bloom swayed on the spot as she lied, Flora looked annoyed for once and shook her head at her "How was the meeting at headquarters?"

Helia hesitated for the smallest of seconds "Fine, it turns out it was just routine stuff, missions and Red Fountain information. My grandfather was there and we all caught up"

"That's nice. Did you want to talk to Flora?"

"No I was just checking up on her" He seemed embarrassed and Bloom smiled wider "That's so nice of you, we wouldn't want anything to be wrong with her now would we" Flora kicked Bloom in the leg from the bed and Bloom easily walked it off "Okay Helia have a nice day, see ya!"

Bloom hung up the phone and sat down on the bed "You need to tell him"

"I will!" Flora cried in frustration, she smacked her hands down on the bed "It just didn't seem like the right time"

"Why did you faint, I wonder?" Bloom asked, fishing for details.

Flora looked innocent enough, she shrugged her shoulders "Don't know and don't tell too many people about this, I don't want a big fuss. It was nothing, I'm a healthy person"

Bloom stood up and walked toward the door "Well maybe you should go to a physiatrists" Bloom saw the pillow sailing toward her and was able to duck out of the room before it could hit her.

...

When Bloom arrived home later that night the sun was setting behind the clouds and all the windows were open to let in the warm night air, when she walked into the dining room she saw Sky and both his parents at the long dining table already eating. Lady was lying next to Sky's chair looking for scrapes, even evil Bloom was at one of the vacant chairs a few seats away, she looked in better spirits "She returns!"

"Good evening Bloom" Former king Erendor smiled at her kindly from his seat next to his wife and son, he had always been kind to Bloom since they got married and she felt they had grown closer since then. The mother still remained in cold but polite manners toward her, Sky of course broke into a wide grin when he saw her "Hey you"

"Hi everyone, sorry I'm late. I lost track of time at Flora's" Bloom sat down next to Sky and waited for her food to be served for her as she'd learned. Before Bloom could even take a drink Samara turned to her with cold eyes and asked in a tight voice "Did you see today's paper?"

Bloom felt her insides tense but didn't show it "Oh yeah I did, nasty reporters" Bloom turned to Sky "Do you think they'll ever get tired of reporting about us?"

Sky shrugged but his mother spoke first "You should be more careful about where you go; anyone can make assumptions on your actions"

"Is she seriously going to blame you for a little media attention?" Evil Bloom asked from her seat a few feet down, she didn't eat but she was resting her feet up on the table while twiddling her thumbs "The battleaxe strikes again"

Sky spoke "Come one mom, it was one photo and it's expected of us to go to headquarters, we are ruling Eraklyon"

"Not quite" Samara mumbled and Bloom felt the direct hit in the heart, she wasn't a queen yet. She didn't have duties or throw luncheons or help Sky rule the kingdom, she still had Samara as her teacher, little better than a child. Sky caught her look and took her and under the table, her gave her a smile that sent some of the chill away from her bones. Needing a subject change she gasped at straws "How was the meeting today?"

Sky spoke easily "Fine, it turns out it was just routine stuff, missions and Red Fountain information. Professor Paladin was there and we all caught up"

Bloom blinked with surprise, it was almost to the word what Helia had said to her, at that moment she knew something was up, something Sky wasn't telling her. When her plate of food was placed before her Bloom took the opportunity to peek over at evil Bloom who was giving her a serious look, she too knew something was wrong.


	6. The Lonely Red Heart

**I have to ask.**

**There's a lot of set up before the story actually begins and I know It's taking me a whole big while to get there and for that I'm sorry and I am trying to keep it interesting while I build things up, so my question is:**

**Any complaints? **

Chapter Five: The Lonely Red Heart

The next day after Bloom's class with queen Samara finished she walked down the halls idly, knowing Sky was out with his father again, evil Bloom was out doing something secret and that most of her friends were busy getting ready for the big lunch tomorrow that Sky and her were holding for all their friends and neighbours. Other kings and queens would be there and Bloom was determined that everything be perfect, she'd risen that morning after another nightmare with a new fuel to get things done, somehow letting the dream kick-start her day. Before class had started after breakfast Bloom had put in a call to Flora to check on her, turns out she'd finally told Helia after he got home about the whole fainting thing, by the tone of her voice Bloom knew she'd toned things down for him. Content that Flora was alright and was now off her back about being sent to a shrink Bloom was free to spend the rest of her morning and afternoon readying the palace for the party and do her other small chores. She started by spending an hour with her personal stylist Alison, who was actually a man with a girly name but she loved him for it, he was kind to her in a civil your-the-queen-and-I'm-your-employee sort of way. They spent the hour picking out her outfit for tomorrow and choosing what type of image she wanted to display for the other kingdoms, they decided on meek but elegant, since there were still rumours of Bloom being a backstabbing fiancé stealer. With that done she took Lady for a walk around the gardens, chatting with the gardeners and praising them on their work with the flowers for tomorrow.

With a quick trip to the kitchens she checked on the food with the head cook who she'd come to know as Betty, a surprisingly thin woman who was barely tall enough to reach Bloom's shoulder, she spoke with betty for a while and the woman reassured her that all the food Bloom had picked out weeks in advance had arrived and was being prepared. Next Bloom called in Annie from the kitchens and met her in the long dining room where she asked the tall maid to keep an eye on her while she ate lunch to check if she was doing anything wrong, Bloom ate lunch with Annie pretending to be busy nearby while peeking up at her, after a few comments Bloom was confident that she wouldn't make a total freak out of herself. When lunch was cleared away she kept Annie back to help her with her second last chore on the list, her entrance to the lunch tomorrow.

It terrified Bloom that her and Sky would enter together and everyone, hundreds upon hundreds of people, would be looking at her. Stepping into four inch heels and descending the staircase a few thousand times seemed like the best way to quench that fear.

"My Lady you're looking at your feet too much!" Annie called from her single chair in the middle of the busy foyer, the chair faced the curved staircase and Bloom tried her best to look regal. Lifting her head she stepped down a couple more steps.

"You have to stick your other hand out to make it look like you're holding your skirts and don't make a fist, elegant fingers" Annie nodded encouragingly.

Bloom reached the bottom and looked at Annie questioningly; the maid nodded and spoke with a smile "Queen Samara herself would be proud"

This made Bloom laugh until she clutched her sides, after a long breath she spoke "Thank you Annie, you've been beyond helpful. I'm finally feeling good about tomorrow"

There was just one last thing Bloom had to do, her last chore.

Bloom walked with purpose toward the chamber that was set aside for evil Bloom, she didn't bother to knock and just walked straight in. The girl was sitting in a widow seat reading a giant book that was bigger than her head, all her hair swept up into a bun while wearing a red blouse and jeans "Sup Buttercup?"

Bloom closed the door and looked serious "I need you to promise me something"

Evil Bloom looked up from readying "What do ya need?"

"I need you not to pull any pranks tomorrow" Bloom stated simply, stepping forward her voice softened "I just really need things to be perfect and I don't need you ruining things by pulling a prank, so please let me know if you have any plans?"

EB paused for a moment before closing her book and smiling up at Bloom from her seat "I promise"

Bloom raised an eyebrow.

"No really, I promise. I actually forgot all about tomorrow and went off to do something else today; you want to know where I went and what I found out?" The girl wagged an eyebrow back at Bloom who smiled secretly. It had become a thing for the two of them to regularly sit down in this room and discuss what secrets EB had found out, it shocked Bloom at the amount of things that could go on without her noticing, lucky for her EB kept her updated.

Bloom sat down in an armchair and crossed her legs "Speak"

Evil Bloom threw the heavy book aside with a thump and turned to face Bloom "Okay here's what I got. Good news first, I think the queen is warming up to you"

Bloom snorted "Oh please, I'll leave if you're not going to be serious"

EB shook her head "I am being serious, after I got back from my outing today I ran into her in one of the sitting rooms, she actually has a similar situation to ours right here, she lines up the most important servants and gets them to dish on the gossip. Sky's mom is a total queen bee of gossip, first time I've ever seen the woman smile! Anyway it was about twenty minutes ago when they were chatting and she wanted to know if there had been any new developments with the party, anything needing checking or sorted. And the servants kind of got a proud look on their faces and told her that you'd taken care of everything. Samara didn't say anything for a whole minute, then she nodded real so like and then she said, and I quote "She has, has she? Finally"

"Finally?!" Bloom yelled, offended at the remark "What does she mean?"

"You finally acted like a queen, checked things out, organised, worried about image, made sure things were in tip top shape. Yay you!" EB clapped her hands and applauded Bloom who tried to think through her annoyance.

"How did she say it?"

"I can't be sure, I was just passing through but it sort of sounded like...pride and relief. Not condescension involved"

"Oh thank gods!" Bloom leaned back on her chair "It's happening, she's starting to like me!"

After a while of relief talk with EB Bloom started to feel better, until evil Bloom got a strange look on her face. After questioning her about it the girl answered in a low and serious voice "I was at headquarters today, sneaking around and trying to catch some news, I heard about the magical flares. There's been a development..."

"Yeah?" Bloom urged her on, anxious to know.

EB hesitated before saying "It's getting worse, much much worse"

...

It was afternoon and still a couple of hours before dinner with the family and Bloom had nothing left to do, after the long talk with EB earlier it had left her in a strange mood, talking about the magical flares. Bloom had never considered the idea that there could be dangers to the magical world besides other people; she toyed with it as she walked up to her room. In the open hallway leading to the door her eyes drifted to a hatch on the roof, an attic of sorts. Months ago Bloom had had them pack up all her stuff at Alfea and on Earth and store it all up there, she'd never gotten around to sorting all of it, with a sigh she pulled on the string and the stairs came sliding down with ease. Crawling up she found a dark but still lit by sunlight attic that was filled with her old stuff, boxes and boxes of old stuff that didn't really fit into her new life on Eraklyon. Sitting down on the wooden floor and grabbing one she lifted the lid and found all her old photos from Earth, most of her when she was growing up and the others of her parents, going on trips to the beach. The school play and birthday parties, Bloom sat for en eternity going through three or four more boxes, smiling wider at each thing. She came to a smaller box and lifted it onto her lap, opening the lid she found her old jewellery from her old house that she'd shared with the girls before the war. To her knowledge the house had been kept under the girls name in case they ever wanted to go back to it or no one wanted to buy it because evil people used to live there. Going through the box Bloom came across something she'd forgotten about.

The golden bracelet that Sky had given her all those years ago, with the red heart hanging from the chain. Bloom smiled and clasped it to her right wrist where it dangled beautifully; so many moments were connected with this little thing. It reminded her of a better time.

...

Bloom's cell phone rang just as she was leaving the cemetery, quickly shoving the used tissue into her pocket with one hand and fishing out the phone from her bag with her other. Bloom had come to the graveyard on Earth every few weeks to lay flowers for her dead parents Mike and Vanessa who she missed more than words could possibly say, it was still early morning as there was a slight fog over everything and few cars in the street. A quick look to the screen told her it was Layla, confusing her as to why she would be calling her when they would see each other in an hour's time at the lunch party "Hey what's up?"

Bloom could hear Layla's frustration through the phone "Hey Bloom, I need a favour"

Bloom slowed her walk to the ship carefully, knowing the tone layla only used when she was seriously at her wits end "What is it? Has something happened?" Thoughts of Flora whooshed back into her head and Bloom felt a sudden rush of fear go through her.

"What? No, nothing's happened. Or well...it will if I don't get my way!"

Bloom sighed quickly "Layla what's wrong?"

"Listen, are you still on Earth?"

Bloom was curious about how Layla knew where she was but didn't question it "Yeah, why?"

"I need you to swing by Musa's place on Melody before you get to the party, I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't urgent"

Bloom stopped walking and looked confused "Why?"

"Because the little witch won't get off her ass and leave her apartment! That's why! Bloom I've been on the phone to her all morning and seriously I'm ready to kill her! She says she's got work to do and she can't come to the party, it's so unlike her to miss a party"

"Did you call Riven?" Bloom started walking again, this time faster and eager to be on her way to melody.

"Yeah he says he had to leave early this morning to report to some crap and he hasn't been home since, says this isn't exactly unusual behaviour for her these days, what the hell does that mean?" Bloom could tell layla was pacing the length of her room and ready to bash the phone against the wall.

"Layla calm down, I'll go talk to her and bring her to the party" Bloom reassured herself that this little trip wouldn't put too much of a push in of her plans for the day, she was already nervous enough about the party.

"Drag her out by her hair if you have too!" With that the line went dead, Bloom heaved in a breath as she thought about taking on Musa and her stubbornness so early in the morning, she'd need coffee. Lots of coffee. When Bloom got on the ship she ordered the pilot to take her to Melody with a voice that rung with confidence, no one could have suspected the hint of hesitation in her tone. Bloom walked up the front stairs to the high apartment building that Musa and Riven lived in she felt a little bit like an intruder, looking up at the twenty story luxury building, she knew that this place was for Musa and Riven alone, where without the judging of anyone else they could be themselves. Climbing the steps she quickly walked inside and pushed the button for the elevator that arrived in seconds, on the way up Bloom adjusted the bag around her shoulder that was slightly tangled in her grey coat, the purple dress under it reached her knees. She also held the tray of coffee with tight fingers as if to muster the strength to get through this next encounter, when the elevator dinged at the penthouse Bloom walked in without a pause in her step. The elevator opened up into the apartment, Bloom had been given a key some months ago in case of emergencies. The first thing she became aware of was the noise, soundproof walls bounced off the fast harmonies that echoed throughout the open loft-like apartment, tall windows looked out onto the vast city. The place looked neat-ish and well used, shoes lying by the door, keys in a small tray by the elevator, some of the curtains not opened fully, unwashed dishes soaking in the sink. The whole place had a stylish/modern/punk and devil may care look to it, Bloom found that the whole place screamed Musa with Riven style thrown in. Walking slowly in she looked around the kitchen/lounge/dining room and found no sign of her small imp like friend but the obnoxious music flowed in peaceful rhythms from a door that was slightly ajar.

"Musa?" Bloom called as she made a beeline for the door, knocking a few times she opened the door to find herself in a part of the apartment she'd never been in before and was shocked at the vast size of the one room. The room was two stories high with a glass ceiling, no other windows on the walls, lights blared down like spot lights, dozens of microphones were spread out near the door on tall stands. Inside the room it looked like one of those rooms they used in universities where you had to walk up stairs to get to your seat and look down at the white board. All these seats surrounded and looked down on this one point where a single chair sat, except the seats weren't empty, they were filled with every kind of instrument. The instruments floated in mid air as they played music that sounded sort of impatient to Bloom's ears, _an orchestra _she thought as she finally set eyes on her friend. Musa was bent over in her chair down the front, legs crossed under her, a stand that held a book of music in front of her, using her hand she led the instruments as the conductor while using her other hand to hastily write down the notes in the book as she thought of them. Bloom watched as Musa finished a page and waved a hand, sending the sheet of music flying into the air and copy itself twenty times to be distributed among all the instruments to follow along too.

Bloom knew it was bad to interrupt Musa while she was in the zone but the frustration of Layla and the clock ticking to get to the party and back to Sky nagged at her. Clearing her throat Bloom stepped into the room "Musa?"

Musa's head whipped around to stare at her with fierce eyes, Bloom was so startled by the look that she thought lightning and thunder should accompany it "Hey, how're you doing?"

Musa leaned back in her chair and with a wave of her hand cut the music off into sudden silence, with a sweet smile she spoke "I should have known, Layla sent you didn't she? I was expecting either Flora or you, what's that you have there? Planning to lure me out with coffee and doughnuts?"

Bloom held the tray in front of her like a shield but her voice remained strong "You know how Layla can be, she's a princess just like Stella, it's ingrained in their very DNA never to be late to a party" Bloom held up the tray "And these aren't a bribe, think of them as a truce. If you're not going to come to the party then at least eat something"

Musa swivelled around on her chair and Bloom saw her hair hadn't been brushed and she was still in her pyjamas, a stubborn look on her face "I'm not going to the party" She jumped up from her chair and snatched the tray from Bloom "but I'll take your peace offering"

Bloom watched as Musa exited the room with the tray, taking a cut and drinking deeply, Bloom knew she hadn't had her morning fix yet. She followed her out "Can I at least ask why you're not going? Techna was looking forward to seeing you again"

"We see each other all the time, it's not like it's a big thing. Besides I have work to do" Musa had walked quickly and sat down at the eight person table in the open loft, one foot perched on the chair as she looked out the window to see the morning lift off the city.

Bloom crossed her arms and stood on the opposite side of the table "What work? You don't work"

Musa looked insulted but Bloom knew her heart wasn't in it "I can work! Do you know how many music companies are after me to write for them? All of them!" Bloom could tell by her friends tone that something was amiss.

Bloom walked closer to the table and leaned forward a little, letting her expression soften "What's wrong? I can tell something happened, tell me" Musa looked casually at the foam cup of coffee in her hand as if she hadn't heard her, Bloom thought for a moment "Is it Riven? Did something happen?"

Musa looked up and answered quickly, her voice more sincere "No, of course not. Riven's been great. I just...didn't feel like going today"

Bloom leaned back, she knew she wasn't getting all of the truth, Musa would need some urging. Pulling out a chair Bloom sat down and took the second coffee from the tray "Not you. I know you Musa, our friends know you, you're the sort of girl who says 'screw work, let's go party!'"

Musa looked up with a small light in her eyes "I am like that! So what's the problem?"

Bloom kept her expression neutral "Today you're not like that and frankly it's creepy that you're still here, in your pyjamas, and refusing to see everyone. It's not like you, so I know something's up"

Musa looked away again at the wall "What happened to those doughnuts we talked about?"

Bloom kept herself from rolling her eyes "You said that not me. But you're avoiding the question"

Musa tapped her fingers against the wooden table top "Make me breakfast and I'll tell you"

Bloom got up abruptly from her chair and walked over to the kitchen "I'll make, you talk" Bloom opened a cupboard and pulled down two plates and set them on the table "Spill it! What's up?"

"You'll think I'm silly!"

"I already think you're silly but go on" Bloom fished out two clean cups from the sink and began whipping them dry with a dish rag, the action reminded her of Earth.

At the table Musa looked uncomfortable "Last night when I got off the phone to you I went to bed and a few hours later I woke up, decided I wanted to write a song and got to work. Thank god for the sound proof walls or Riven would have thrown something through the wall, just like him right? Anyway I spent all night working on it and I can't seem to get the ending right, no matter what I try it doesn't work out"

Bloom waved a hand over the two cups and two plates and suddenly food and drink filled them, orange juice with salad and toast. Walking back to the table Bloom swished a hand and let the food float over to the table, settling in to the chair again she spoke "You really stayed up all night? What caused that?"

Musa looked at her plate "Toast? Salad? What about some real food like bacon?" She caught Bloom's look and quickly picked up the toasted bread and bit down "I don't know! I just felt the urge, you know? That's what it's like for us artists!" Bloom clocked an eyebrow while she sipped her coffee again, Musa broke under her gaze and sighed "Okay!...I had a dream"

Bloom choked on her coffee slightly before coughing and looking over at her friend, something clicking in her mind "You have them too?"

Musa looked confused "What?"

Bloom put down her cup and leaned over the table, eyes wide "Dreams, have you been having them for a while? Are they about fire?"

Musa shook her head "No. I only had the one and it was creepy as all hell, like I was trapped inside a mental hospital! I kept running around like a crazy person, laughing and clutching at the walls" Musa looked down at her hands "My fingers kept tingling the whole time, It really freaked me out" She looked up and Bloom caught site of the rare vulnerability in her friend "I just woke up and I felt like I had just run a marathon but I knew I needed to get it all out so I just went into my music room and started playing" She waved a hand with sparks of blue magic at her fingertips, music started to flow in from the other room "This was as far as I got"

Bloom leaned back in her chair and listened while they ate breakfast, as the song went on Bloom found her appetite cease as she listened. The creepy music was upbeat and cheery with a sinister and creepy undertone that made her think of madness, like the type that had overcome her when she worked under Valtor. It sent chills up her spine, when the music was at a peak it suddenly cut off and went dead, Bloom looked over at her friend "That was...pretty intense"

Musa nodded "Yeah I know. As soon as I started writing I knew I had to finish it, that's why I bailed on the party. Do I really have to go? Will Stella be mad?"

"What are you kidding? Of course Stella's gonna be mad!" Bloom took the last swig of her coffee and set it on the table "But I guess I can come up with some kind of excuse-"

"That's it!" Musa suddenly exclaimed as she shot up from her chair, knocking it back so it topped over. Bloom jumped and looked up at her, startled. Musa had on a fierce look and took off in the direction of the music room "I know how to finish it!"

"Breakfast!" Bloom yelled after her from her seat, gesturing to Musa's uneaten food.

"Later!" Musa waved a hand as she disappeared through the door, soon Bloom could hear the creepy notes float out the door and whirl around her, this time the song did end but it still sent such fierce chills up her spine.

...

When they got off the ship when it landed on Eraklyon the hatch opened and the first thing they saw was Stella in a cream dress with ruby red mixed in, a red bow in her hair that floated around her frame, a sour expression on her face "Where the hell have you two been?!"

Musa swaggered off the ship with a carefree walk, passing Stella without a care "Save it Saloria we're here now"

Stella looked open mouthed after her in anger, Bloom walked up to her and rested her forehead against the girls shoulder in defeat "You have no idea how much it took me to get her here"

**OKAY!**

**Now the fun starts!**

**BTW Fairytales will be done soon.**

**People I've been working hard here, REVIEW!**


	7. Diaspro

Chapter Seven: Diaspro

Bloom was on the edge of hyperventilating.

She looked out over the party where everyone she had known since coming to Magix was gathered, or the ones that would still talk to her, and sighed. The party was in full swing and since the moment that she'd been introduced and presented to everyone she'd felt a terrible gut wrenching feeling, she thought she might actually keel over if it weren't for Sky holding her hand tightly. The party was being held mostly outside on the edge of the castle walls that led out to the gardens with a couple of open doors that led inside where a vast buffet was being served. Laughter could be heard from time to time over the sway of the music. People from all the corners of Magix danced on the dance floor, ate at one of the many beautifully decorated tables or they just stood around and watched the entertainers do their jobs, various brightly dressed performers were scattered around doing lots of impressive stunts like breathing fire and bend in unnatural ways. The crowds loved it, Bloom loved it even more because it had been her idea in the first place, a thing she'd learned on earth. Right now she stood with Sky on the last few bottom steps while being introduced to the vast majority of royals of Magix, she was beginning to get a headache at the bright colours and the shinning jewellery that they all wore. She had to blink often to see them properly as the sun shown down on them, they all wore smiles and wished her and Sky well in their future. For a moment there was no one to greet next and Bloom took the opportunity to look out for her friends, all ten of them were here, eleven if you counted EB.

The red headed girl was staring wide eyed with her mouth hanging open as she watched a tiny girl in a purple leotard swing and spin effortlessly from a long strip of purple material hanging fifteen metres in the air, when the girl bowed EB clapped the loudest with a wide smile, Bloom was glad she was enjoying herself. Her other friends were scattered around; she knew that Techna and Timmy were inside at the buffet chatting to a certain technology company CEO that had been invited specifically for them. Musa and Riven were over in a far corner of the party leaning against a wall and eyeing the performers, from this distance it looked like they were making bets with each other on which one would screw up first and fall, Bloom could almost hear their snickering. Flora and Helia were over at the large fountain outside with Layla and Nabu, they had all been chatting happily since arrival and it looked like they were planning some kind of beach house trip for the whole group that nobody was supposed to know about, Bloom only knew because she had super freaking hearing learnt from a particular evil person from her past. Looking over at the dance floor she spotted Brandon and Stella and smiled brightly, they looked spectacular together as he spun her around the dance floor, both caught up in their own world together to notice anything else. All her friends were on their best behaviour for her today and it made her feel so happy but it did little to calm her nerves at the other people in the room. There were two people in particular that had come to the party that she had not known about and when she walked into the room she had literally choked at the sight of them, anger rushing to her and making it very hard to breath.

One had been the man that she had hoped would never darken her life again, ever since putting an axe through her neck she hadn't exactly been warming up to him. Magix's representative Lucus. Miserable sod had crashed her party or had been invited without anyone telling her, she suspected it was a test from Samara to see if she could handle it or not. Well he hadn't spoken to her since the day of the war and hadn't tried to kill her so she was fine with him staying, she could still see her friends give him a major stink eye though, Bloom had given one of the servants strict instructions to keep Lucus away from both Stella and Musa for whole party if possible. The second person to ruin her day was so unexpected that Bloom couldn't stop staring at her in disbelief; the gall of that girl was unbelievable! _Relax Bloom _She thought to herself sternly _She can't hurt you here, you're the queen for god's sake...well almost the queen and she'd have to be crazy to start something here. _

Sky's two time fiancé Diaspro.

Whenever Bloom saw her she felt the very real urge to find some scissors and cut off all the long wavy blond hair from the girls head, the very presence of both these people put Bloom on edge. Not because she might have to talk to them but because her friends – or even worse – Evil Bloom might start something. So she kept a firm eye on the party and tried not to freak out.

"Bloom, you haven't taken a breath in forty five seconds" Sky whispered to her, Bloom let out the air she was holding and began breathing normally again. She looked up at Sky and felt peace come over her; he smiled down at her warily "Still angry at my mother for not telling you?"

"No of course not" She totally was.

Sky wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her shoulder soothingly "It's ok, everything has been going fine, we just have to keep certain people away from other certain people, nothing to worry about"

Bloom eyed the ground with worry "Did you know she was coming?"

"No, I swear. I was as shocked as you were"

"Doubtful" Bloom answered thinking back to the panic attack she'd had when she first saw them as she made her way down the stairs, she'd almost ruined her own entrance that she'd worked so hard to get right.

She heard Sky sigh "I'm surprised none of our friends have done anything"

Bloom looked over at each of her friends quickly "I don't think they even know Diaspro and Lucus are here" Sky and Bloom watched as all their friends smiled and ate and danced "I mean I love my friends and everything but I don't they're capable of this sort of self control"

Sky stared in wonder at the party "I think you're right"

At that moment King Erendor appeared behind them and told them that lunch was about to start, after that all the guests were seated at various tables and finally Bloom could stop worrying about who was going to start a fight with who, all her friends were seated at the same table with them. The thirteen of them chatted happily and ate the delicious lunch Bloom had painstakingly ordered all those weeks ago, after a while it seemed to Bloom that her party might actually go off without a hitch, the only thing that could cause any problems was the floating china that EB used, startling many of the guests. Other than that everything was peachy keen.

"So we were thinking" Layla began as she took another bite of the chocolate cake bathed in ice cream and strawberries "That maybe in a few weeks when everyone is not so busy we could all take a trip together to my families beach house, it's on the outskirts of Tides and no one is ever there. The whole beach is literally deserted; it's perfect for a little relaxing time, getting to see each other a lot more"

Flora chimed in "Nature walks and there'd be no responsibilities"

Stella smiled and rested her chin on her hand, turning to Brandon "I like it, think of all the midnight swims" He smiled and winked at her which made Stella blush slightly and smile even wider.

"Sounds like a drag" Riven chimed in carelessly as he spun his fork around her fingers, Musa kept her face neutral next to him and replied while gazing at her finger nails "Oh I wonder if they have hunting tournaments this time of year?"

"I'm in" Riven answered abruptly throwing down the fork and smiling competitively, next to him Musa smiled a sly smile.

"Sounds great, I'll see what time I can get out of royal stuff" Sky said as he smiled at Bloom who was so excited at the possibility of going away that she almost forgot about Diaspro and Lucus. Beside her EB clapped her hands and yelled "YES! Finally some time away, I was wasting away here in the castle. Bring on the sun tans and the coconut drinks with the little umbrellas!"

Stella laughed and raised her glass "Well on another note I think we have to congratulate our hosts, Bloom and Sky, for a wonderful party. Bloom you're going to be a kick ass queen and a wonderful – bitch!"

Bloom blinked at her friend who was staring wide eyed at her, all her other friends were doing the same; a sudden fear that she'd done something wrong filled her. She glanced down at herself and found no obvious signs of insult, looking back up she noticed that her friends weren't looking directly at her; they were looking just behind her. A sudden whiff of lavender perfume filled her nose and Bloom almost sagged in her seat, turning around she was unsurprised to find a tall glorious looking Diaspro looking down at her – smiling.

"Hello Bloom, Sky" She nodded to both of them "Everyone" Bloom could sense all of her friends shock and outrage and thanked the gods that none of them said anything, the girl kept talking "I just wanted to come over and say what a wonderful party this is" She gestured to their surroundings and Bloom noted that a minute ago everyone in the garden had been talking, now there weren't half as many voices "I was also wondering if maybe I could have a quick word with you Bloom?"

Bloom was stunned, she felt all her friends eyes bore into her back. She knew that half the people at the party were now secretly watching her and didn't want to make a scene, so she simply nodded and stood up. Ignoring the glares and the wary stares of her friends she walked with Diaspro through the sea of tables toward the castle doors, once inside they went into a small room filled with coats. Dismissing the servants she shut the door and turned with her guard up to her arch rival who was still smiling at her pleasantly "I've been waiting for this moment for months now, when they told me you and Sky finally got married I was shocked, I'd convinced myself that me and him would be together"

Bloom didn't say anything; she had no idea what to say.

"I know we've had our differences and I'm not saying that they were all your fault but I know now that the kind of relationship I had with Sky was wrong, it wasn't even one sided. He didn't love me...and I didn't love him"

Again Bloom was still stunned and had no idea how to reply.

Diaspro took a step forward "So I came here today to make amends" Bloom thought she was going to pass out "Bloom, for all the terrible things I've done and for all the times I've stood between you – I'm sorry" Bloom felt her world tilt and she had to blink a few hundred times to regain her sanity. The girl had stopped talking and it gave Bloom a chance to really look at her, she was still beautiful but she noticed there was a tight look to her, her skin stretched over too thin, her eyes slightly glazed over and her fingers endlessly fidgeting with her small purse. Her clothes were a little too big and hung around her skinny form; all in all she looked a little...nutty.

Finally through the shock Bloom managed to say "Umm...okay...thank you"

Diaspro smiled wide "I knew you'd forgive me" Bloom noted that when she spoke her eyes drifted off just to the right of Bloom unconsciously "I'll leave now" And as if the situation couldn't get any more confusing Diaspro came forward and _hugged Bloom. _Bloom's mouth fell open in shock and she shook her head slightly to try and clear it, the girl stepped away and reached out to snatch a coat of the rack and throw it around her shoulders, she turned and walked from the room out of another door that led to a hallway. Once the door was shut Bloom didn't even have time to breath before the other door she'd came in with burst open and in stepped Layla, she looked suspicious.

"She gone?"

Bloom nodded "Yeah...what umm...what was that?"

Layla crossed her arms and sighed "Okay I'm gonna tell you something and you can't repeat it, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to tell you but it's unavoidable now" She came forward and whispered "I mean it, you can't tell anyone, not Stella, certainly not Musa, not any of our friends. I'm not even supposed to know"

Bloom whispered back "Know what?"

Layla paused "Did you notice that Diaspro was kind of...out of it?" Bloom nodded "Well you see after the war Diaspro was really upset, you saw her that day, she was completely hysterical. Her wedding had been broken up and a war had raged, she'd lost Sky and she'd lost to you. So after that she had sort of a mental break, lost it completely. Her parents took her home and made her rest for a while but she didn't get better. So they...sent her off to a clinic"

This time Bloom did speak "Diaspro was sent to a metal hospital?!"

"Ssshhh!" Layla hushed her quickly "I only found out because my parents know her parents, it's a secret. She's out now but it's pretty obvious she's not all there, I mean she's not Diaspro anymore" For an instant Bloom felt guilt wash over her, she caught sight of EB lurking in the corner, for once the girl wasn't laughing, she looked grim.

"You're right, we shouldn't tell anyone about this, this is her family's business" Bloom replied with her eyes on EB, the girl nodded and disappeared through the wall. Bloom was about to speak again when her sensitive ears heard whispering from somewhere, sighing she turned around and opened the door that led out to the party. Right next to the door sat all of her friends and their boyfriends, all their ears leaning against the door to listen; they were startled at the sudden opening of the door and gathered themselves.

"How much did you hear?" Bloom demanded sternly.

"Nothing" They answered in unison.

"You guys!" Bloom yelled in frustration, she was even surprised to see Sky among them, still kneeling on the floor.

Techna answered "We felt we needed to come along, for your own protection"

Musa nodded "Yeah, we weren't going to leave you with bat shit crazy Diaspro"

"She could handle it by herself" Layla replied with her arms crossed.

"What are you being all high and mighty for Layla, you were listening with us until you barged in there" Stella answered with a smile. Bloom whirled and shot her friend a look, groaning she walked through the door and stepped over her friends who hurried after her.

"Okay back to the party everyone" Bloom pointed to the door, all her friends trudged along looking stubborn. Sky was the only one left and took her hand "You wanna talk about it?"

Bloom sucked in a deep breath and rested her head against his shoulder "No not really. Not ever. I think I just need a minute" Sky wrapped both arms around her and held her tightly, pressing a kiss to her hair while she closed her eyes and smiled.

"You're doing good, you know" Sky said after a long moment "This whole queen thing, you're good at it. No matter what happens nobody, not even my mother, can take away the good job you've done today"

Bloom smiled wider and nodded "Thanks"

They stayed like that for a minute longer until Sky reached for her hand to lead her back to the party and paused, looking down at her wrist where the gold and red bracelet shown in the sunlight "I remember this"

"Yeah, I found it in one of the boxes from home; I decided that I'll wear it forever. To remind myself of a simpler time, to remind myself that no matter how bad things get there's always going to be good times aswell"

"Like now"

Bloom nodded "Yeah like now, let's just hope it lasts"

The two of them made their way back to the table hand in hand, Bloom smiled at guests as she passed and felt a small feeling of excitement at the future. They were almost back at the table when Bloom froze, a heavy wave of dizziness coming over her and a sudden need to sleep, the whole garden tilted at an extreme angle and she had to grip Sky's arm to keep from falling "Bloom?" Sky asked worriedly as he noticed her pause and the far out expression on her face. Bloom closed her eyes and shook her head, the dizziness still rolling around her head; with her eyes closed she could only hear Sky speaking to her and the sounds of the guests chatting happily. Sudden it all got cut off and the only thing she could hear was that loud roar of the dragon, Bloom focussed on it and tried to find out what it was attempting to tell her. The more she focused the louder it got until finally Bloom saw behind closed eyes a flash of light, an image that was only there for an instant. It was filled with dark light with blues and gold's mixed in, it was beautiful and terrifying. As quick as it came on the quicker it went away, Bloom slammed back into reality, still grasping Sky's arm with both hands digging in. He was still looking down at her worriedly, the world was still spinning but she was able to look across the garden and see her friends at the table. Stella was bent of the tabletop with her arms shielding her head as it rested on the surface, Musa had both hands scrunched into her hand to cover her ears, Flora and Helia were looking warily into each other's eyes while Techna was busy trying to get her breath back and lastly Layla was looking into the sky with a shocked expression.

_Something happened there._

Bloom blinked and all of the uneasiness slipped away and she was felt standing with Sky, she looked up at him with clear eyes "I'm fine...it's fine" The two of them walk slowly back to the table, Sky puts Bloom in her seat and begins pouring her a drink, she looks at her friends who are staring weirdly back at her. Bloom sighs deeply and tries to think, a feeling a deep dread settles over her. This wasn't just some onetime thing anymore, something was going on and she didn't like it one bit. She would have had more time to think it over if it weren't for the sudden gasps of the guests, Bloom looked over and met eyes with Lucus a few tables over, the two of them staring at each other for a long moment before his eyes turned to the sky with a grim expression. Bloom watched him slowly stand as other guests looked up as well; turning in her chair Bloom saw what they did and rose to her feet as well, her friends following.

"What are those things?" Flora asked timidly as she looked up at the sky.

"I have no idea" Stella answered with wide eyes "Techna?"

Techna gulped and replied "I think...but it's not possible. Not here, not this close to Eraklyon"

"What? What is it?" Brandon asked confused.

"Tell us Tech" Musa requested as she too stared up, her voice strong but with a slight incurrent of unease.

Techna didn't answer so Timmy did "It's strange because they're not supposed to be here, not this close to anything. We all thought they were way out in space, it's not logically possible for them to appear here, the atmosphere would burn them up immediately...but they're still holding strong"

"What are they?" Riven demanded, on edge now too.

Bloom answered, she didn't know how she knew but she did "Magical flares"

Up in the sky in the far distance out in space, everyone could see light appear in the sky. It was all different colours, all flashing and then fading out, like small meteors. It was unlike anything any of them had ever encountered; they flashed and danced in the light blue space. Looking over they seemed to all be heading in one direction, silently.

It happened abruptly and without warning.

The whole sky seemed to erupt, lighting and thunder at the small time without any clouds, the whole sky above them flashing bright white light, blinding everyone. Suddenly the ground gave a violent lurch and sent everyone to the ground with yelling and screaming, Bloom felt Sky hold onto her as they landed on the wooden floor of the dancing area. Bloom blinked through the haze and looked up at the sky, blues and gold flashing in one point far out in space but still visible. It crashed together loudly, the guests screamed and ran for the castle while others stayed where they were, Bloom felt Sky lift her to her feet and drag her toward her home. She couldn't really look away from the sky it was all so colourful, so beautiful...so familiar. It occurred to her that she'd just seen this exact thing not minutes ago when she'd had her little episode. On the way in with her friends trailing behind her the earth suddenly gave another jerk and everyone was sent crashing to the ground, Bloom felt her hand slip from Sky's as screams echoed around her. Trying to get to her feet in the panic Bloom felt a sudden warmer hand gasp hers and looked up to see evil Bloom standing over her looking scared but calm at the same time "Come on Bloom!" Bloom was wrenched to her feet and she let herself register the shock of being held onto by her other self, the girl almost never touched anyone. Sky was beside her once again and gasped her other hand and began pulling her toward the castle while shouting orders to people. Once inside Bloom let Sky navigate his way through the panicked crowd toward the stairs, her dress getting stepped on by the close proximity of the people. They finally got up and Bloom noted that her friends were still running behind her, all of them holding onto their other loved one, with evil Bloom bringing up the rear to push anyone who lagged behind.

"Holy crap what was that?!" Stella exclaimed as she reached the top of the stairs.

"I don't know" Techna replied looking stunned, she turned to Timmy and shook her head "I really don't know"

"Is anyone hurt?" Flora asked as she looked around at her friends.

Bloom looked over the railing of the stairs at the crowd down below, many people were still scrambling and hugging loved ones in relief, nobody really looked hurt or anything, just very startled "I think we're okay, oh god what do we do?"

"Just relax, nobody could have seen this coming" Sky replied while rubbing Bloom's shoulders to loosen the tension.

"Yeah I didn't exactly factor in natural disasters when I planned the party, they're going to be talking about this for years now, my first real royal party and the world decides to spit on it" Bloom said bitterly as she crossed her arms.

The sudden ringing of multiple phones alerted the group, it came from all the guys' phones. Pulling them out of their pockets the guys glanced at the screens and sighed "We have to go, they're calling in all the specialists and all the leaders, emergency meetings"

"Except this time it's a real emergency" Riven muttered as he glanced at the screen, he was getting tired of being called to head quarters for every 'emergency meeting', at least this one was real and he'd be able to give it his full attention. The guys left after that, as did all of the guests, everyone was just keen to get home and make sure all their families were okay. Bloom stood at the palace door with Sky's mother and her friends and bid everyone goodbye as they passed, apologising for the panic. It took forever but finally the castle was empty of guests and Bloom was able to go upstairs to a private room with a TV and sit down with her friends. When she walked in she found Stella, Layla, Flora and Techna all on their phones, all speaking to their parents. Musa was the only one not on her phone, she sat beside evil Bloom on the couch and flicked through channels, Bloom sat down beside her and took off her heels "Did you call your dad?"

Musa sighed "Yeah, he's fine, they only got a small earthquake over on Melody"

Bloom glanced over at her other friends who were pacing back and forth while talking reassuringly, Bloom heard EB talk "They've been on the phone for half an hour now, parents right?"

Bloom shrugged a shoulder "At least they have someone to call to tell they're okay"

She felt EB settled down next to her "Fine, let me be the parent" Bloom looked over to see EB clear her throat and get a suddenly worried look on her face "Oh Bloom I'm so glad I got a hold of you! Are you alright? Are you hurt? There was this big earthquake and we didn't know if you were okay!" The fake high pitched voice she spoke in brought a smile to Bloom's face "Oh darling! So worried! So very hysterical! Etcetera, etcetera!"

Bloom laughed "Okay, thank you! I've had enough; just go back to being the mean you"

On the other end of the couch Musa suddenly sat up straight with wide eyes "Whoa! Check it out!" Her yell was so loud she caught the attention of everyone in the room, the girls on the phone glanced over curiously, Bloom and EB looked over to the wide screen TV and gasped identically. It was fuzzy and the reception was terrible but there it was, right in the middle of space with multiple ships circling it in awe. Bloom leaned forward and blinked, something about the image looking back at her called something inside her, a giant tear in the very fabric of space with a blue outline and gold light spilling out of it. Next to her Bloom felt Evil Bloom take her hand and squeeze it, Bloom gulped and tried to quell the sudden fear lurking in her chest. She didn't know how or when but she knew that whatever that floating thing in space was...it was going to bring her life crumbling down.


	8. Complications of a Complicated Life

Chapter Eight: Complications of a Complicated Life

Bloom fiddled with her golden bracelet as she watched the sun go down and the night sky gleam brightly, something about the strange blue's and purples made the sky look different than other's she'd seen. Ever since the news report of the rip in space everything had been sort of surreal after that, the servants were gossiping nonstop, everything seemed to slow down until it seemed like time had stopped altogether and everyone was just waiting for news. Bloom felt the feeling of dread in her stomach as she looked out across the kingdom, anxiously waiting to see if Sky or the Specialists had come home yet, they'd been gone for hours now. Behind her the other girls were still sitting in the TV room, silently except for the dull hum of music that Musa was playing on her IPod, they had all been plunged into silence after the news report and the girls had gone a deathly silent. Bloom had been sitting on the couch staring obsessively at the TV screen where the image of the rip was displayed when Stella suddenly hung up her phone and walked to her side with wide eyes. She'd then said something that rocked Bloom to her core "Okay fine, if nobody else is going to say it I will. I've seen that rip before"

Bloom didn't move but waited for someone else to talk, Musa from beside her spoke in a curious voice "What? Seriously?"

Stella nodded "Yeah, right before the big earthquake thing at lunch, I had this strange vision" Bloom felt the room get heavier and closed her eyes, resisted the urge to scream.

There was a shuffle and Techna spoke up "I saw it too"

"Me too" Layla replied in a quiet voice from over at the window, next to her Flora nodded with wide eyes. Techna spoke again, a slight catch in her voice "Why would we all have the same vision right before the rip in space opened up, do you think it's some sort of foresight power?"

"I don't think so" Layla answered coming forward "We've never had a vision like this before and it's still a little strange that we'd all have it"

"What do you think it means? And why us?" Flora asked timidly. It was silent for a long time and in the space of that moment a silent message passed between each girl, an understanding that something was happening and they were all involved somehow. The girls barely had time to register this when Musa suddenly kicked over a chair and yelled in anger, she had sprung up from her spot beside Bloom and was now pacing while running her fingers through her hair.

"What the hell Musa?" Stella asked looking annoyed at the broken chair.

"Are you okay?" Flora asked quickly, standing just behind the couch where Bloom remained silent.

"NO! I don't want to do this again! I refuse to do this" She turned to them with a serious look "I'm going home if you guys are gonna talk about strange visions and other dark powers and stupid save the world plans" She waved a hand in the air "I'm done!"

"What are you talking about? Nobody mentioned any 'save the world plans' or 'dark powers'!" Techna tried to sooth her, her hands raised. She'd been Musa's roommate all through their Alfea years and she knew how to calm the small fairy "We just need to talk about this"

Musa rolled her eyes and stepped toward the door "Techna, I've done this song and dance too many times, I know how situations like these end. We get involved, we screw things up by trying to save everyone and suddenly there's another bloody war going on!"

"That's not going to happen!" Flora yelled back, a small desperation in her voice.

"Musa's right" Stella said suddenly.

"Stella!" Techna yelled out, shocked at her friend.

Stella looked up with wide eyes "We've been down this road before and we know how it ends" She turned to her friends "You guys I can't do this, not again, it's peace time. We've worked too hard to get here and I'm not going to throw it away because suddenly the world starts going to pieces!"

Layla came forward so that all the girls were standing in a spaced out group in the middle of the room except for Bloom on the couch and EB who was silent, still staring at the TV "Okay everybody just relax, we don't know that anything is going to happen" She gestured to the TV "We have no evidence whatsoever that that...thing in space has anything to do with us"

"What about the vision?" Flora asked quietly, she had wrapped her arms around herself as a sort of protective gesture.

"Maybe other people saw it too, It couldn't just be us" Techna tried to sound convincing but even to her own ears it was a bad effort.

"No, it's just usually us" Musa replied rolling her eyes, she really just wanted to walk out of the room and go home but then nothing would get resolved. So she sat down and crossed her arms at the piano with a carefree expression, Techna sighed at her and turned to Bloom who hadn't moved "Bloom, what do you think?"

Bloom opened her eyes and tried not to sound fearful, in all honesty she'd wanted to kick over a few chairs herself with the piling emotions welling up inside her, at this moment she was fighting for calm "I think...that some of us are married and they maybe we shouldn't make any decisions until talking to the guys first" It was an excuse; Bloom didn't want to talk about it...ever. After that they'd all fallen silent, too cross or too wary to continue talking about it. Bloom couldn't bear the sound of Stella's pacing and the beeping coming from Techna's phone anymore, she'd gotten up and walked out to the balcony to watch the sunset, it calmed her enough for her to think clearly. From the moment that she'd had the weird discussion with Diaspro she felt like she hadn't had a moment to think about anything, her mind went back to that strange encounter and for a moment it was a relief to feel the guilt over Diaspro than the fear she felt over the giant rip in the fabric of space. In truth she was astounded that Diaspro had been in a mental hospital, it seemed like such an earthly thing but it seemed that had those in Magix aswell. The girl had actually had a mental break over what happened with Sky and her, something Bloom had helped happen. As much as she hated Diaspro sometimes she hadn't wanted the girl to end up crazy and locked away, and now she was out and on god knows how much medication, remembering those creepy eyes gazing off into the unknown distance had frightened her a little. And she'd hugged Bloom! And smiled at her like they were new friends! What in the gods name had happened to her in that place? Sighing she pushed her guilt away for later and thought about the vision next, she knew that the thing she'd seen in the vision and the rip in space were the same but why did she see it and not everyone else? What was the connection? The vision had felt a little like the way she'd wanted to suddenly sleep that one time, where she'd 'passed out' and Flora had done the same thing as her later that very day. Did this mean the other girls had been having these strange sleep things and just not told anybody? The thought of sleep brought the dragon dream to her mind and she thought for a moment that they could be connected...

A hand on her shoulder startled her so bad she whirled around ready to strike out at the enemy, she froze when she saw EB standing behind her with a curious look "Hey buddy, you look a little...deep in thought"

Bloom lowered her fist and took a deep breath "I have no idea what's happening and it's very unsettling for once being the person who doesn't have all the answers" She didn't even bother to say hello, she just jumped right into speaking. She looked back at the moonlit kingdom "When we worked for Valtor he'd tell us what to do and we'd do it, no problem. When we got back to Alfea we were a little more blind but at least we knew more than other people, we held the cards"

"MmmHmm and what about when the war started?"

"Well...we weren't just wandering around in the dark, we had a general idea of what was going on but this whole situation...it's different. For once we're just like everyone else, we know as much as they do"

EB smiled "Sucks doesn't it?"

Bloom shrugged a shoulder "Yeah, it kinda does"

EB moved to stand next to Bloom on the balcony, she leaned down against the rail and looked up at the sky "What a day, huh? I can't tell what's weirder, the giant rip in space or Diaspro's behaviour. That was a shocker, the whole mental clinic thing" She looked over at Bloom and smiled "I didn't know and neither did Sky and you couldn't have known that it was gonna happen, so don't you dare feel guilty about it, I think it was the best thing for her really. Diaspro was always a little on the loony toons side"

Bloom chuckled "I always just thought she was really clingy"

EB laughed too "Yeah there is that" She paused for a moment to look back into the golden lit room where her friends were still hanging out, she looked better and less disturbed "It's gonna be okay, you know these things happen for a reason right? Whatever happens we'll just deal with it, the good news is that we aren't on the wrong side this time, we're the good guys and you know we always win"

Bloom felt a little better but said in a small voice "Yeah we'll figure it out, just as long as we're together"

EB smiled at her for a moment and then suddenly veered back "Whoa, that was like...really gushy and kinda girly. Ugh! Don't make me do that again, it's just wrong" She shuddered and walked away and Bloom had to laugh, it was rare that they had a moment. With one last glance at the kingdom she walked back to the TV room and sat down on the couch, Stella had quit pacing and had sat down, flicking through channels. Musa was still playing the piano while Techna sat next to her on her phone, Flora was busy reading a giant red book and lastly Layla was munching on a sandwich at one of the armchairs next to the couch. Bloom sighed "When do you think the guys are gonna get back?"

"Soon, Timmy just messaged me; he said they're on their way" Techna answered sounding distracted.

Bloom nodded, she turned to Stella "How's things on Saloria?"

Stella smiled warmly and shrugged "Oh my mother is freaking out; ever since the rip opened everyone's been really scared. It's not every day that something like this happens, she keeps calling me to make sure I'm okay, I feel like calling the authorities and putting her in a temporary mental hospital to just get her to chill!"

On the armchair Layla chocked on her sandwich and Bloom tried not to burst out laughing, she felt guilt for Diaspro's sake that she even found it funny "So umm" A laugh disguised as a cough "Was anyone hurt?"

"Nah, they said that only the neighbouring planets to the rip really got the earthquake, like here and a couple of others"

"So the rip is close to us? You think we could see it from a telescope or something?" Layla asked sounding excited.

"No" Techna replied "It's closest to Eraklyon but it's on the other side of the planet, people are getting in their ships right now to get a chance to see it" She scoffed "All they'd have to do is turn on their televisions, save them the effort. And another thing, the rip opened up about four hours ago and already it's got hundreds of online pages dedicated to it"

"Huh" Flora said in a curious voice "It's strange, it's as if the rip knew where we'd be and just decided to send us a vision just seconds before it opened up on our own backyard"

Musa halted playing and gave her a look "Could you please not say things like that, it's bad enough we're already sort of involved. Just promise me that we won't go out there and investigate it"

The door to the TV room opened and in walked the Specialists, Riven was the first through the door and he seemed cheerier than usual "We've been selected to go and check out the tear in space!"

"_Son of a bitch!" _Musa snarled as she slammed her fist down on the piano keys.

Flora's eyes went wide and she shot up from her chair "Oh my god, what?"

"You're going out there?" Stella asked with a strain to her voice, she gripped the side of the couch tightly.

Bloom couldn't even bring herself to look at the guys, she felt her whole body slump into the couch and felt like she might pass out. _No, not them...anybody but them! _

The guys walked further into the room, Timmy was carrying a large pile of folders and was trying to readjust his glasses with his shoulder, Helia walked right in and over to Flora where he took her hand and stared down at her wide eyes, Layla stood up and walked to meet Nabu in the doorway, they joined hands and spoke quietly. Brandon and Sky were the last to enter, they looked tired but slightly excited, Bloom tried to catch his eye but he was too busy conversing with Brandon. Techna stayed at the piano but spoke loudly over them "Wait; explain it to us, where are you going?"

Timmy answered her as he set down the giant pile of folders on a high table "Well we got to the meeting and everyone was in an uproar, people were panicking and everyone wanted answers that nobody could provide. Truth is nobody knows what that tear in space is or where it came from"

"Or where it leads" Riven added in with a smile, he was leaning against the piano with his hands in his pockets.

Bloom blinked, it hadn't occurred to her that the rip may lead somewhere. Stella sat up straight "So what happened next?"

Helia answered "My grandfather got up in front of everyone and calmed them down"

"Yelled at them, more like it" Brandon muttered by the door.

Helia continued "He's on the council with Miss Faragonda and they got everyone in order, told everyone that they'd figure it out and that they didn't have to worry. After that there was a lot of yelling and arguing about what was to be done with the rip"

"Bomb it" EB mumbled with a smile next to Bloom.

"Some crazy people wanted to actually bomb it" Brandon chimed in, the girls gasped and Flora whispered "Oh my god, they can't do that! There could be people living on the other side of that rip"

"That was the case Miss Faragonda made, she ordered everyone to not take any offensive action until they'd sent a team out to explore the tear in space and get some real evidence back to headquarters" Timmy replied as he sorted through each folder, he then handed each guy one of them. There was a silence and the girls all got it at once.

"You're the team?!" Stella yelled out, an appalled look on her face.

EB swung her hands in the air and sang "Road trip!" Bloom smacked her upside the head and tried to think clearly.

"Yeah, Professor Paladin said that we were the most qualified to take the mission and everyone agreed, even Lucus" Riven answered as he smiled down at Musa who had a permanent look of scorn on her face.

Techna was a little more composed "When does the mission happen?"

"Well they want it to take place as soon as possible so they're sending us out tomorrow" Sky answered his eyes on Bloom.

This got a reaction out of her "Tomorrow?!" She lowered her voice "So soon?"

Brandon shrugged "Got to get a jump on things, speaking of which we should all probably head home, got a really big day tomorrow"

"Wait" Stella stood up and looked a little nervous "Is it only you six going? Shouldn't here be more guys for like...rescue teams and stuff?"

Brandon came over to her and put an arm around her waist "Don't worry babe, we won't be going alone, there'll be a whole city's worth of supplies to help us. They want to be prepared for anything"

"So" Layla began "Does that mean we can come and watch?"

The guys paused and some even cleared their throats, Nabu was the one to speak "Well you see...it's kind of an important mission and its authorised personnel only. Sorry"

Layla, Techna looked visibly disappointed, Flora just sighed while Bloom didn't know how to feel just yet as she was still trying to get her head around the fact that her husband was running head first into danger. The only ones who looked cheered by the news of being barred from the mission were Stella and Musa, who sighed in relief. In truth if the girls knew the whole story about why they weren't able to come along they'd be a little more upset.

..._Earlier at the meeting._

_The meeting had just ended and the guys were eager to get back to Eraklyon and see the girls, they had been neck deep in advice and well wishes for over an hour now and there was only one thing standing in their way. They had just reached the door of the meeting room when Lucus suddenly blocked their path with a determined expression; he began immediately "One more thing before you go"_

_Brandon groaned "Oh gods, what now?! We've been here for hours; we know the drill we know we wish us luck on our mission, what could be left to say?"_

_Lucus did not look impressed with the attitude "It will only take a moment"_

_Sky crossed his arms "We literally don't have a moment"_

"_Make one"_

_Timmy jumped in "If you tell us will you let us go right after?"_

"_It's about your...lady friends"_

_This got the guys attention, they all stood up straighter and didn't miss the sneer in which Lucus said the words, their guards going up instantly. Lucus continued "As you can imagine this mission is of the utmost importance and we have every confidence that you'll you do it quickly and effectively" They didn't miss the slight sarcasm "But there is one rule that you must abide by: Keep your girlfriends away from this"_

"_Why?" Brandon asked curiously too shocked to be offended._

"_They could help?" Helia suggested, as much as the guys feared the girls in danger they knew the power they possessed "They could just come along and watch"_

_Lucus paused for a moment "No, I think it best of they stayed right away"_

_Riven stepped forward "You got a problem with them?"_

"_I do actually, aside from being a major pain in the ass; they're responsible for starting not one but two wars! Their past conduct does not excuse their behaviour toward the safety of Magix, now with this tear in space situation upon us you'll excuse me for demanding that they keep their noses out of it because if the past is any indication those girls will just find some way to be involved and doom us all! So I say again: Control your women and keep them away!"_

_After he walked away Brandon leaned over and whispered "I don't think he took a breath once in that whole speech"_

_..._

"Well!" Brandon said clapping his hands once "Let's get home; I've got a lot of studying to do before the big mission!"

The guys looked over at the girls to all see identical expressions of dread, anger and wariness, the guys knew without even being told that they so hadn't heard the last of this. Bloom was able to overcome her emotions for a brief moment to ask timidly "So...you're all really going out there?"

Sky smiled at her and she could tell there was a new light in his eyes that told her he really wanted to do this, being king was great but nothing compared to a mission out into the unknown "This is one of the biggest mysteries to ever appear in Magix history, this tear in space could be anything"

Riven chuckled "Yep and we're gonna go poke it with a stick"

...

Bloom paced the length of the hallway in agitation, wringing her hands together as she marched purposely from one end of the hall way to the other, her thoughts whirling. _This is all happening too fast, just this morning all I had to worry about was my party and weird dreams, now weird dreams have come and ruined my party and are sending my husband on a dangerous mission he might not ever come back from. _She knew it was irrational to think that something bad was going to happen on the mission but with her past she was almost certain, although she could hope that maybe it would just be a fluke and Sky would come home safe. He would tell her the rip in space was nothing and then they could live happily ever after in their castle, king and queen of Eraklyon. _Pft! Yeah right! _Sighing again Bloom stopped walking and leaned against the wall, her only comfort was that all her friends felt the same way she did, they didn't want the guys to go on this mission. But what could they do? Ask them not to go because they had a gut feeling something was going to go wrong. No, this mission was too big and important to the guys to pass off, they were going and nothing the girls could do or say would stop them. So right now Sky was in his office down the hall going over the rules and regulations for the mission while Bloom was out here having a stress meltdown, as was Sky's mother. After everyone had left to go home and the party had been packed up and all the servants gone to bed Bloom and Sky had trudged upstairs to tell his parents of his intentions, they had taken it rather well. Suspiciously well. The only clue that they were even upset about it was when Sky exited the room and closed the door it could be clearly heard that they began yelling at each other about how it was a terrible idea. Bloom felt a bit better that she and her friends weren't the only ones to worry, even EB was a little more on edge after the news. She'd gone back to her chambers and refused to talk to Bloom or even let her in the door, stubborn girl.

So after all that Bloom had gone back to her room to change out of her party dress and have a major call with Miss Faragonda, the woman had been expecting the call and went right into reassuring her that everything would be alright. In truth Bloom was feeling better after she hung up the phone - having just vented all her worries - but she knew she wouldn't be able to rest until she told all her worries to Sky himself, he needed to know how she felt about this. Glancing at her watch she found that it was well after midnight and she still didn't feel like sleeping, too keyed up with getting up the nerve to talk to Sky. She sort of wished EB was here to yell at her and tell her to man up. The door to his office opened and Bloom stood up straight to see her tired looking husband exit the room with a huge folder in his hand, he looked surprised to see her.

"Bloom? What are you-" He glanced down the hallway and back at her "Have you been out here this whole time?"

Bloom didn't answer; she just shrugged and tried for a small smile. Sky assessed her reluctance and shifted the folder in his hands to lean against the wall "Are you alright?"

With those words spoken to her Bloom almost cracked, she let out the air she'd been holding in a big gust and blurted out "No! I'm terrified!"

Sky looked concerned and stood up off the wall and walked toward her "What is it? What's wrong?"

Bloom shook her head in disbelief "You don't know? There are a thousand things I'm scared of right at this moment and you can't even pick up on one of them?" She hadn't yelled but the raw emotion in her voice spoke volumes, she turned and walked back toward their bedroom door while speaking "I'm scared that I'm a terrible daughter in law, I'm scared that I'm going to be a terrible queen, I'm scared that not only does most of the people in Magix hate and fear me, some of them want to see me dead" She opened the door and walked back into their bedroom where all the lights were on but none of the windows were open, she walked over to them and flung them open, continuing her speech "I'm scared that I keep having weird dreams that seem to be connecting to me to certain situations, I'm scared I'm gonna start another war" She turned back to him with a grim expression, he stood in the middle of the room watching her warily "And I'm scared of that rip in the sky. But more than anything else, I'm absolutely terrified that if you go on that mission tomorrow I will never see you again. I know about these things and if I learned anything from all the stuff I've done over the years it's that if you do something, you have to live with it. There is no going back" She began walking slowly back over to him "Sky if something happens to you out there and by some terrible accident I become a widow, I'm gonna be left here alone without you. And anything I imagine can't be more horrible than that. I fear it so much that when I think about it I can barely breathe!" Her voice had risen throughout the speech until she was all out screaming at him; she finished and clenched her hands into fists, trying to regain her breath.

Sky had a wounded look on his face, he quickly put down the folder on the couch and came forward and grip her by the shoulders "Bloom, listen to me. I am not going to die out there"

"Says who?!" Bloom exploded with tears beginning to sting her eyes.

Sky hushed her soothingly and hugged her to his chest; she wrapped her arms around him and clung to him desperately. The memory of when she'd been about to die back at Alfea that time popped into her head; she'd clung to him tightly and told him to be happy. It did not make her feel better to remember it just then. Sky spoke gently to her "My beautiful wife. My strong, brave, unpredictable Bloom" She smiled and felt some of her raw stress melt a little "You said there's no going back and I know that, but look at what we've achieved in spite of all our past mistakes, look where we are. You fought so hard for this future and never gave up, do you think I wouldn't fight just as hard to keep it, to keep you" Bloom sighed and closed her eyes, feeling more calm "I love you so much and I would never let you become a widow, think back over the past few years. Think about how many times both of us have died; you think death can stop us?"

He was right, Bloom knew that now. The very sound of his voice soothed her and she began to believe that maybe everything would be okay; she smiled and stepped out of his arms. She wiped away the single tear that had escaped in her rage and sighed "You're right, you're so right. Maybe I overreacted a little"

Sky smiled and shook his head "Either way, I'm glad to know you care so much. Are you alright now?"

Bloom though for a moment, now that her tantrum had passed she began to feel the weight of the day's events pressing down on her. She was dead tired "Hmm, yeah"

Sky clocked his head to the side "Tired?"

Bloom waved a hand and most of the lights in the room went out except for the lamps on the bed side tables, she looked up at him and a lazy smile "Yes, aren't you?"

"Well not yet!" Quick as lightening Sky scooped her up into his arms; Bloom squealed in delight and laughed. She kissed him passionately and with all the energy that remained in her, he carried her over to the bed while she began to tug open his shirt with eager fingers.

...**Hi! Quick note: This next bit is just something that I feel I need to add for the sake of future events, it's not in Bloom's prospective but in Musa's. Also as the story continues you're going to see a lot more of other perspectives because for a LOT of them, Bloom won't actually be there. It just helps things along, plus Musa is by far my favourite character and people seem to love her strange and frustrating relationship with Riven. Enjoy! **

It was deadly silent on the elevator ride up to their apartment and since they'd left Eraklyon they hadn't spoken a word to each other, the air thick with their unspoken emotions. Musa stood with her arms crossed and her face impassive as she waited for the elevator to hurry up and get them home, at this moment her feelings on the subject of Riven going off and investigating this rip in space were pretty simple.

At this moment she was feeling pure unadulterated fury.

Anyone who knew the couple well were familiar with their strange type of relationship, Musa and Riven handled their feelings or opinions in a very physical way, if something bothered them it wasn't long before everyone in the room knew about it. And even though their emotions of rage, frustration and annoyance were plain to see, it was the softer and more vulnerable emotions that none of their friends - not even their best friends in the whole world – ever found themselves witnessing. It was exceedingly rare for people like Musa and Riven to ever express their deepest and most genuine feelings to anyone, except maybe each other because for better or for worse, they understood each other in a way that no one would ever be able to understand. Sure they're fought a lot and they sometimes couldn't stand to be in the same room as each other but that was just the way they operated, the way they let each other know what was going on with them. So the silence in the elevator continued while Musa suppressed the urge to bludgeon Riven with her handbag, with a quick glance in his direction Musa could see that he was standing with his hands in his pockets and a carefree expression on his face. The genuinely cheerful emotion put her even more on edge and she had to take a deep breath.

_Ping!_

The elevator doors slid open and Musa matched quickly into their large loft-like apartment, throwing her handbag with force down onto the counter of the kitchen and fetching herself a glass of water. She let the cold liquid run down her throat and temporarily quell the angry that threatened the burst free. Riven strolled quietly into the room and - after setting the huge folder of information for the mission on the counter next to her purse - opened the fridge of pull out a plastic container filled with deep fried left over's from last night, since neither of the couple were cooks per say, they were content with ordering in most nights. The ongoing supply of unhealthy food didn't bother them that much since Riven was in top physical condition and never in any danger of gaining weight and Musa for her small size couldn't gain weight on account of her high metabolism. As the microwave hummed Musa watched her boyfriend with hawk like eyes scoot around their living room, her glass of water clutched firmly in one hand. Her thoughts calculating and waiting.

_Let the game begin _She thought as she watched him.

There was a reason neither of them had spoken to the other for the long ride home, they were stubborn people. And in their constant arguing and stubbornness they had developed a game that they played often, whenever one or both of them was upset they wouldn't say anything, competing with each other to see who would crack first and start yelling. It was probably the reason Riven was so damned cheerful right now because he knew he was going to win, he wasn't the one imagining grabbing him by the hair and slamming his face into the stove. A quirky smile appeared on his face as he sat down on the couch and grabbed the remote, before he turned it on he looked back at Musa still standing in the kitchen with her water, he arched an eyebrow mockingly at her. At her expression he almost expected to see stream rushing from her nose and ears but she remained silent. With the TV now on Musa walked back over to the microwave and pulled out their dinner, she calmly fetched plates from the cupboard and began making up a plate for herself. Sitting down at the glass dinner table she ate her food and with the hot sweet honey chicken calming her she felt sure that she could hold out a lot longer. A half hour passed as they both ate their food, Musa at the table and Riven on the couch watching TV. A lot of the stations covered the rip in space and it seemed it was all people could think about tonight, the voices and pictures clawed at Musa annoyingly.

_Stupid Riven! Why does he have to go?! It could be anyone else but NO! He has to eagerly put his hand up to volunteer and off he goes into the mysteriously unknown without even talking to me about it! _Musa chewed her food obsessively, glaring at the back of his head. And as if he couldn't infuriate her more he began to whistle cheerfully.

_OH BITCH!_

Musa shot up from her chair and marched over to the couch; snatching the remote from him she turned off the TV and glared down at him. He ceased whistling and looked up at her innocently; a completely new Riven from the one everyone else saw, the happy go lucky mean smug one. The urge to yell was so strong she bared teeth at him, he savoured her expression for a moment longer before saying calmly "Just say it Musa"

"YOU JACKASS!" Musa yelled down at him like a demon from hell.

Riven savoured his victory of their game for a brief second before looking up at her defiantly "It was my choice"

"A choice you could have told me about before you went ahead and made it!"

Riven was unaffected "It was an in the moment thing, they wanted an answer right away, what did you expect?"

"For you to pick up the phone!"

Riven rolled his eyes at her and snatched back the remote and turned on the TV "Well done now"

Musa stood in shock for a moment before snatching the remote back and switching it off "No it's not done! We're going to talk about this Riven, it's not just the decision you made without me this one time. You do it constantly! We're supposed to be a team and you act by yourself without thinking what I might want!"

Riven stretched his arms out on the back of the couch and looked up at her, slightly annoyed "So now that we're a 'real committed couple' I have to run every little thing I do by you to make sure it's okay? Is it okay if I go have a drink with the guys? Hey babe is it alright with you if I go to the bathroom now? Hey Musa can I stay up late tonight, I've finished all my homework?"

He was playing with her, the slight smile through his annoyance made her teeth crunch together. He snatched back the remote and turned it back on, staring lazily at the picture. She breathed in to yell "You're exaggerating you ass! I have never asked you to consult me on any of those things, it's big possibly life changing things like today that you should talk to me about because they affect me too!"

Riven spoke calmly "Life changing things you say? Like that time you decided to run off with classy ass Valtor and I didn't see you for two years?"

Musa gasped and stepped back, all her rage gone for a brief instant until it all came flooding back. She snatched the remote one last time and turned it off, marching into the kitchen she threw the remote into the microwave and set it for an hour. She turned to face Riven while the humming of cooking plastic filled the air; he looked surprised at the action "You know I can just turn it back on at the side of the TV?"

Musa spoke in a low voice "I told you to _never_ bring that up, ever" It was strange and totally unexpected but for a small moment Musa thought she might cry and she never cried. The subject of Valtor and those two years was a forbidden subject for her and she hated it when he brought it up, deep down she knew she'd wounded him beyond forgiveness when she'd run off. They were together but it would always hang over them.

Riven stood up off the couch and strolled over to her with his hands in his pockets, he wasn't mad or in the mood to yell. But whenever he thought of when she'd chosen a life with Valtor over a life with him he seethed with rage, she once tried to explain to him that she'd been severely depressed at the time and wasn't in full control of her actions. She held herself responsible for her actions that night but whenever he mentioned it he could see that reminding her was the ultimate kick her while she's down, he knew he hurt her and he always felt hate toward himself and disappointment in her. And he regretted mentioning it now, he knew he was right but for once he hated being right.

Musa took a deep breath, suddenly feeling defeated. She braced herself against the counter and closed her eyes in tiredness "Fine. Whatever" She reached out and picked up the massive folder from the counter and handed it to him as she passed "I'm going to bed"

She left him standing there and entered their bedroom, closing the door she quickly got changed into plaid blue shorts and a black tank top. Their bedroom was a square room with three blank white walls; the third wall was made entirely of glass from top to bottom that looked out over the city. Sitting on the double bed she looked out at the view and let her mind wander away from the fight she'd had and thought about what the others had mentioned about visions and dreams. She remembered this morning when she'd felt she had to finish the song she began last night after a weird dream, it unsettled her. She didn't know exactly what these dreams and vision were that her friends were having, she was just glad they weren't notably happening to her. _One dream last night, that's all. It's nothing. And that vision today, it was just...heat stroke or something! _Crawling under the covers she felt herself fall instantly asleep.

Musa woke two hours later with her heart pounding in her chest and her lungs unable to get any air, gasping and choking she clutched at her throat. She noted at the back of her mind that sweat covered her and images flashed behind her eyes, bloody walls and the sounds of chains rattling and freaky laughter echoed through her mind. Still unable to breathe she leapt to the side and fell right out of bed onto the floor, clutching the side of the wooden bed frame she forced her eyes closed and willed her throat to open. For a few dizzy moments of no air she finally was able to force herself to breathe, air travelled down her throat in one heavy gasp. The nightmare clinging to her she crawled to the door of the bedroom quickly, her only thought being escape and find safety with the only other person who lived in this apartment. Wrenching open the door as she fell into the living room in a heap, still gasping for air. She instantly felt a bit better being out of that dark room; curling up in a ball on the white carpet floor she heard stranger sounds like dry sobs rake her body.

She heard the familiar sound of one of the dining room chairs scraping again wood before she heard Riven yell "Musa!"

She was surprised at how fast he reached her, looking up at him with half closed eyes her whole vision went blurry and she thought her might faint, Riven had her off the ground and into his arms in a flash "What happened?!"

Musa found her voice after a moment, she sounded out of it "Walls...chains...lots of laughing! Can't get out!"

Riven's face went from concerned to even more so "What?"

Musa struggled to move in his arms and swear she saw blood dripping from all the walls "Can't-can't breathe!"

"You are breathing!" Riven yelled back at her, he sounded so sure yet she couldn't believe him.

She shook her head "No!"

"Okay fine" Riven replied quickly, suddenly Musa was sitting upright on the couch and Riven was right in front of her. She veered back but he held on to her "Musa, tell me what happened" It was a direct order.

In all honesty she didn't know how to explain, she wasn't even in her right mind and she knew it, suddenly tired again she leaned her head against his shoulder and spoke random words to try and tell him "I don't-walls were on fire-blood-was dark-shadows-and laughing! Oh god the laughing-I don't want to go back" Neither of them knew what got into her, suddenly she was tearing up.

Getting she'd had a nightmare he wound his arms around her gently but she wasn't having it, suddenly she was off the couch and sitting in his lap, wrapped around him like a vice. He didn't use words to comfort, he just held her as tightly as she held him. After a few minutes her breathing returned to normal and her first coherent thought was: _Oh...now that was a dream. _Finally on board with the whole vision and the rip crap Musa felt worry finally enter her system and for a brief moment she imagined what life would be like without Riven "Hey Riven?"

"Yeah"

"Promise me you'll come back, whatever happens tomorrow I want your word that you'll come back. Promise me" Her voice sounded so small and pleading, almost like a small child. To this day Riven couldn't remember if she'd ever asked him to promise her anything, she hadn't. Not one promise but she was asking it now. Knowing she meant it seriously he pulled back a few inches to look down at her wide violet eyes "I promise"

**Aw, there was something so fun and exciting about writing the Musa and Riven bit, I loved it! So refreshing from writing with Bloom. The last part was meant to be humorous but somehow it turned sort of serious as I was writing, ah well. How did you like it? Review and tell me please!**

**P.S Apologise if the first half seemed all over the place. **


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